The controversial gallery is owned by advertising mogul Charles Saatchi, 57.ĭetectives had recommended corporate charges under the Protection of Children Act 1978. The decision not to prosecute was taken by a senior CPS lawyer, whose view would have been endorsed by Director of Public Prosecutions, David Calvert-Smith QC. Police fear that a dangerous precedent has been set which will help lawyers representing sex offenders. The gallery had taken the unusual step of hiring a high-powered legal team, including one of the country's top barristers, Geoffrey Robertson, QC, to argue its case in a written submission to the DPP.Ī CPS spokesman last night said lawyers believed there was no realistic prospect of a conviction. 'The CPS considered whether the photographs in question were indecent and the likely defence of the gallery, ie whether they had a legitimate reason for showing them,' the spokesman said. Last night the Saatchi Gallery - where the pictures have remained on show throughout the investigation - joined the two artists in issuing a statement expressing their delight and relief. 'It's been a very worrying time for the two artists involved and their families,' said a spokesman. The photographs will remain on show until April 15.
Police were first alerted to the controversial pictures on February 8 and covertly visited the gallery four days later.Ī file was submitted to the CPS on February 14 and police later warned the gallery to remove the pictures or risk them being seized. The exhibition, which has been running since mid-January, is sponsored by the Independent on Sunday newspaper, whose art critic describes some of the more controversial images as 'exhilarating portraits of family life'.
Gerald Howarth MP, chairman of the cross-party Family and Child Protection Committee, warned the 'intellectual elite' against putting children at risk by sending the wrong message to paedophiles. Gallery officials will meet with police and lawyers to discuss the issue today.ĭetectives will stress their determination to 'police' such exhibitions in the future. However, following revelations that some of the images may constitute child pornography, a moderator has warned that any images featuring Maroney or Lee "will be immediately removed".Rachel Stevens looks effortlessly chic in a black off-the-shoulder sundress as she poses with rarely-seen daughters Amelie, 11, and Minnie, eight Gwyneth Paltrow wishes lookalike daughter Apple a happy 18th birthday: 'You are everything I could have dreamed of and so much more' The hacked photographs were originally thought to have been posted on a "deep web" forum a week ago, but it was only when the images were subsequently uploaded to the 4chan anonymous image-sharing forum on Sunday that they were circulated widely.Īccording to online news organisation The Daily Dot, the Reddit community r/TheFappening has become the main hub for sharing the stolen photographs, because Reddit is one of the few mainstream websites that is not deleting links to the photos.
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The images so far released online are believed to represent only a fraction of a vast archive of explicit photographs that a group of hackers has been amassing for months, possibly by compromising the stars' iCloud accounts. But her lawyer has reportedly sent a letter to several pornography sites that have reposted the images, demanding that they remove them because Maroney was underage in several of them. Maroney, an Olympic gold medallist and world champion gymnast, tweeted that the photos of her posted online this week were "fake".