Prohibition on importation of indecent photographs of children

Defence of mistaken belief as to nature of prohibited goods - proof of knowledge of precise nature of prohibited goods unnecessary to found convictionR v Forbes (Giles): HL (Lord Slynn of Hadley, Lord Steyn, Lord Hope of Craighead, Lord Clyde and Lord Hutton): 19 July 2001The defendant was charged with being knowingly concerned in the fraudulent evasion of the prohibition on importation of goods under section 42 of the Customs Consolidation Act 1876 and section 170(2) of the Customs and Excise Management Act 1979, as amended, after he had been stopped on arrival in the UK from a member state of the European Union.He had been carrying videotapes labelled as films on general release which in fact contained indecent photographs of children.

At trial he accepted that the imported photographs were prohibited goods but claimed that he had not been 'knowingly' concerned in their importation since he had believed he was carrying different films which he had thought, mistakenly, were prohibited.The jury convicted him.

On appeal he further claimed that the prosecution was required to prove that he knew that the imported material related to children since importation of indecent adult photographs from a member state was not prohibited.

The Court of Appeal [2000] Gazette, 5 May, 36 dismissed his appeal.

The defendant appealed.David Lane QC and Charles Salter (instructed by Davis Hanson) for the defendant.

Martin Field (instructed by the solicitor, Customs and Excise) for the prosecuting authority.Held, dismissing the appeal, that on a prosecution for an offence under section 170(2) it was sufficient for the prosecutor to prove that the defendant knew that he was importing goods subject to a prohibition and that the operation on which he was engaged was an evasion of that prohibition, but it was not necessary for the prosecutor also to prove that the defendant knew the precise nature of the goods concerned; and that, accordingly, the jury's verdict would stand.

(WLR)