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Section 66E: Creating purported intimate image of adult

Sexual Offences Act 2003 · 2003 c. 42View on legislation.gov.uk

Part 1: Sexual Offences

A person (A) commits an offence if—

A intentionally creates a purported intimate image of another person (B),
B does not consent to the creation of the purported intimate image, and
A does not reasonably believe that B consents.

"Purported intimate image" of a person means an image which—

appears to be, or to include, a photograph or film of the person (but is not, or is not only, a photograph or film of the person),
appears to be of an adult, and
appears to show the person in an intimate state.

Subsections (5) to (9) of section 66D (person in an intimate state) apply for the purposes of this section as if references in those subsections to a photograph or film were references to an image.

References in this section to creating a purported intimate image of a person do not include doing so by modifying a photograph or film of the person where what is created by the modification is an image which—

appears to show the person, but
does not appear to show—
something within section 66D(5)(a) to (e) (read with subsections (6) and (7) of that section) which is not shown in the photograph or film, or
a person who is not shown in the photograph or film.

It is a defence for a person charged with an offence under this section to prove that the person had a reasonable excuse for creating the purported intimate image.

A person who commits an offence under this section is liable on summary conviction to imprisonment for a term not exceeding the maximum term for summary offences or a fine (or both).

The Secretary of State must—

review the operation of subsection (5),
publish the outcome of the review in a report before the end of the period of two years beginning with the day on which this section comes into force, and
lay the report before Parliament.

About this text

This legislation text comes from legislation.gov.uk. Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. These source and reuse terms cover the legislation text, not Remedy's commentary.

Reuse reviewed 21 August 2026 under Open Government Licence v3.0.