10 charges and three convictions since 'revenge porn' criminalisation

‘Disclosing private sexual photographs and films with intent to cause distress’ was officially criminalised under the Justice Act (Northern Ireland) 2016.

There were 24 recorded instances of the crime in 2016/17, however, the relevant records for 2017/18 won't be available until Thursday, May 17.

The reason only 10 charges arose from what is likely to exceed 24 recorded instances may have been due to a more serious crime to 'revenge porn' distribution having being recorded as a main offence, police explained.

Revealing the conviction rate police stated: "This offence was enacted in Northern Ireland in the Justice 2016 Act ‘Disclosing private sexual photographs and films with intent to cause distress’ and is included in the Recorded Crime data series.

"Offences are recorded as per the Home Office Counting Rules including the principal crime rule, i.e. if a person reports to police that inappropriate photographs have been made public and also disclosed to police that a more serious offence was committed by the same offender then the more serious offence will be recorded as per the principal crime rule and the ‘Disclosing private sexual photographs and films with intent to cause distress’ will not be recorded as part of the recorded crime data series."