The Government is to extend new laws making the possession and viewing of violent pornography a punishable offence to Northern Ireland, it emerged tonight.
Northern Ireland Office Criminal Justice Minister David Hanson confirmed the new law announced by the British Home Office yesterday, which could result in a three year jail sentence, would be applied in the province.
"I will extend this proposed legislation to cover Northern Ireland," the minister confirmed.
"I will work closely with the Home Office, so that people in Northern Ireland are given the same protections as those who live in the rest of the United Kingdom.
"This kind of material, which often depicts serious violence particularly against women, is unacceptable and I fully support these new provisions which are vitally important in tackling this issue."
Home Office minister Vernon Coaker announced the plan to introduce the new offence yesterday following a campaign by Berkshire woman Liz Longhurst.
Her 31-year-old daughter Jane, a school teacher from Brighton, was strangled by musician Graham Coutts with a pair of tights.
Jane's body was found on Wiggonholt Common, near Pulborough in West Sussex, in April 2003 and was kept in storage for weeks before it was found.
Coutts, 36, from Hove in West Sussex, was jailed for life in 2004 for the murder but had the minimum term of his sentence reduced from 30 to 26 years on appeal.
Jurors had been told of his obsession with strangulation, a fascination which saw him looking at internet sites.
The law currently forbids anyone from making or publishing violent and extreme images but the new legislation will make it an offence to possess images which are or appear to be life-threatening or result in serious and disabling injury.
PA