''R v Walker'' was an

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

Crown Court case that was a test of the

Obscene Publications Act 1959 The Obscene Publications Act 1959 (c. 66) is an Act of Parliament of the United Kingdom Parliament that significantly reformed the law related to obscenity in England and Wales. Prior to the passage of the Act, the law on publishing obscene mater ...

. It was the first such prosecution involving written material in nearly two decades and set a precedent in use of the act to prosecute

web fiction Web fiction is written works of literature available primarily or solely on the Internet. A common type of web fiction is the web serial. The term comes from old serial stories that were once published regularly in newspapers and magazines. Unlike ...

. In October 2008, the defendant, civil servant Darryn Walker was charged with publishing an obscene story contrary to Section 2(1). It appeared on an internet site. A newspaper sparked the prosecution as it involved a

real person fiction Real person fiction or real people fiction (RPF) is a genre of writing similar to fan fiction, but featuring celebrities or other real people. Before the term "real person fiction" (or "real people fiction")

erotic horror story about the murder of the members of British pop group

Girls Aloud Girls Aloud were an pop girl group that was created through the ITV talent show '' Popstars: The Rivals'' in 2002. The group comprised singers Cheryl, Nadine Coyle, Sarah Harding, Nicola Roberts and Kimberley Walsh. The group achieved a str ...

. The case was abruptly abandoned on its first day and the defendant was cleared of all charges.

Decision to prosecute

The story, entitled "Girls (Scream) Aloud", had been posted from within the

jurisdiction Jurisdiction (from Latin 'law' + 'declaration') is the legal term for the legal authority granted to a legal entity to enact justice. In federations like the United States, areas of jurisdiction apply to local, state, and federal levels. J ...

of the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the European mainland, continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

on a

website A website (also written as a web site) is a collection of web pages and related content that is identified by a common domain name and published on at least one web server. Examples of notable websites are Google, Facebook, Amazon, and Wi ...

hosted in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

. Submitted under a pseudonym, the posting included a traceable

email address An email address identifies an email box to which messages are delivered. While early messaging systems used a variety of formats for addressing, today, email addresses follow a set of specific rules originally standardized by the Internet Engineer ...

. Officers from Scotland Yard’s Obscene Publications Unit decided to seek prosecution after consulting the

Crown Prosecution Service The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) is the principal public agency for conducting criminal prosecutions in England and Wales. It is headed by the Director of Public Prosecutions. The main responsibilities of the CPS are to provide legal advi ...

(CPS), and on 25 September 2008 it was announced that this would occur for the online publication of material that the police and the CPS believed was obscene. It was the first such prosecution for written material since the landmark obscenity cases of the '60s and '70s. Any ruling would affect intended regulation of the

internet The Internet (or internet) is the global system of interconnected computer networks that uses the Internet protocol suite (TCP/IP) to communicate between networks and devices. It is a '' network of networks'' that consists of private, pub ...

in the jurisdiction.

Trial

Walker appeared in court on 22 October 2008 to face charges of "publishing an obscene article contrary to Section 2(1) of the

". He was granted unconditional bail; the first day of the trial was organised for 16 March 2009. However, at the procedural preliminaries (directions) hearing in January, the defendant made it known that given the seriousness of the case he would be represented by a QC (

Queen's Counsel In the United Kingdom and in some Commonwealth countries, a King's Counsel (post-nominal initials KC) during the reign of a king, or Queen's Counsel (post-nominal initials QC) during the reign of a queen, is a lawyer (usually a barrister o ...

), after which the

gave notice of its intention to similarly employ one. The trial was postponed to 29 June 2009.

Outcome

Walker appeared at

Newcastle Newcastle usually refers to: *Newcastle upon Tyne, a city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England *Newcastle-under-Lyme, a town in Staffordshire, England *Newcastle, New South Wales, a metropolitan area in Australia, named after Newcastle ...

Crown Court on that day. The prosecution withdrew its case after hearing evidence from an IT expert. The CPS explained that it had charged Walker as it believed that the story in question could be "easily accessed" by young fans of Girls Aloud. This was because of the definition of obscenity used in the act which requires prosecutors to prove that those exposed to the material were previously unaware of its obscene nature. Those who actively seek out such material are deemed unlikely to be corrupted by it. However, the IT expert showed that the article could only be located by those specifically searching for such material. A spokesperson for the CPS said that the prosecution was unable to provide sufficient evidence to contradict this new evidence and therefore no longer saw a realistic prospect of conviction. Mr Justice Faulks, presiding, returned a formal verdict of not guilty to the charge.

References

{{reflist, 30em 2009 in England Trials in England 2009 in case law Internet censorship in the United Kingdom 2009 in British law W Internet case law Obscenity law

Decision to prosecute

Trial

Outcome

See also

References