…even if the possession of the images is clearly and understandably a criminal offence.

As a legal correspondent reporting on active court cases I can’t refuse to use the language in the charge- and I can’t change it to something more palatable. I’ve seen plenty of cases and sometimes the context of the images cannot be appropriately described as abuse or rape…

As you say “words matter” and that is especially true in the context of a criminal case where there will be a jury. As I’ve said several times before, it’s a matter for legislators to perhaps have a look at the terminology used in the legislation.

Hi Deirdre. I dislike the term as much as anyone. But it’s the term used in the charge. Not speaking specifically about this case - but if we have no idea what the images show, we cannot describe them as pictures of “rape” or “abuse”. Not every picture in these kind of cases can be so described.