Beginning today it is illegal to own extreme porn in the UK.

The outlawing of extreme porn came about following the admission of Graham Coutts, who brutally murdered a UK woman, that he was addicted to violent Internet pornography

The partner of Jane Longhurst, who was Coutts’ murder victim, went as far as to say that – “Jane would still be here if it wasn’t for the Internet.”

The government decided it was time to change Internet porn laws due in part to a campaign by Longhurst’s mother to have extreme pornography banned. This campaign included a petition signed by around 50,000 people who agreed that there should be laws against owning extreme pornographic material.

The law bans pornographic images which depict an act which threatens a person’s life or would cause serious harm to the anus, breast or genitals, regardless of whether the scenes are real or acted.

The bans also includes images that depict sex with animals or corpses, regardless of whether the animal or corpse is real.

Violators of this new law could face a maximum sentence of three years in prison.