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Amendment made: No. 2, in line 2, after 'prosecution', insert
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'or by the Criminal Cases Review Commission'.—[Mr. Robert G. Hughes.]
Bill, as amended, to be reported.
Order for Third Reading read.
2.17 pmMr. Robert G. HughesI beg to move, That the Bill be now read the Third time.
The Bill began with a report by the royal commission on criminal justice which said:
We were disturbed by evidence that we received that victims' statements were being freely circulated for various dubious purpose quite unconnected with the trial.The commission was supported by the response from the Law Society, which described the circulation of such evidence as "gaol pornography." The Bill will put a stop to that. It will deal with the harm caused by defendants in sexual offence cases who circulate such material as a form of pornography. This material often contains detailed, intimate information about the victim and the crime and has on occasion been used in prison as pornography. Outside prison, defendants and defendants' relatives have on occasion circulated copies of case papers to intimidate witnesses and as part of a lobbying process in an attempt to aid the defendant. We have to put a stop to that rare but harmful practice, and do it now.All of us who use the Internet know that such material can go around the world in seconds. It is vital that we protect the victims of such crimes from a second assault with photographs, copies of their statements and their medical records being circulated to God knows whom. I am grateful for the support of my hon. Friend the Minister, of the hon. Member for Cardiff, South and Penarth (Mr. Michael) for the Labour party and of Liberal Democrat Members who have helped to get the Bill through.
§ Mr. MichaelI welcome the Bill and I congratulate the hon. Member for Harrow, West (Mr. Hughes) on providing a vehicle to end an anomaly and a scandal. As he rightly said, the royal commission on criminal justice highlighted the harm done by prison pornography. My only regret is that the Government have taken so long to address the anomaly. The Labour party has tried more than once to have such provisions put in legislation. I have moved amendments similar to these provisions to more than one Bill in Committee without Ministers accepting the sense of urgency that the hon. Gentleman has stressed. With the Bill about to become law, this is not the time to do more than remind the House of that fact: the conversion of Ministers and their support for the Bill is welcome, and we all look forward to this scandal being ended as speedily as possible.
§ Mr. KirkhopeThe Government are delighted to support my hon. Friend the Member for Harrow, West (Mr. Hughes) with his Bill. It provides an effective means of tackling the important problem of the misuse of victims' statements and other material in sexual offences cases.
We cannot win. The hon. Member for Cardiff, South and Penarth (Mr. Michael) talked about how long we have taken to act, having earlier made comments about how speedy our progress on other legislation has been. The Bill gives statutory effect to proposals that we announced last year, which were widely welcomed. We are particularly pleased that it will make a real contribution to the fight against crime.
I congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for Harrow, West and I commend the Bill to the House.
Question put and agreed to.
Bill accordingly read the Third time, and passed.