Are images of anal fisting "extreme pornography"? A jury will decide whether looking at porn images of the practice is illegal in a landmark London case this week - where the defence solicitor has been granted permission to live tweet proceedings.
Barrister Simon Walsh, a member of the City of London corporation, was fired by Mayor of London Boris Johnson from his role as an appointee with London Fire Authority, after charges under the Criminal Justice and Immigration Act 2008 were brought against him.
Walsh has pleaded not guilty to five counts of possession of extreme pornographic images and one count of possessing an indecent photograph, in relation to material sent to his personal email account.
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Defence solicitor Myles Jackman of Hodge Jones & Allen, who blogs as Obscenity Lawyer, has been given special permission to tweet, with the hashtag #porntrial, throughout the trial, the first time such permission has been granted in a British court.
Images of the sexual fetish of fisting, which is alluded to in bestselling "mummy-porn" book Fifty Shades of Grey, should be classified as "extreme pornography" according to the Crown Prosecution Service, in what will be a landmark case.
According to Section 63 of the Criminal Justice and Immigration Act 2008, images are “extreme” if they are “grossly offensive, disgusting or otherwise of an obscene character”.
It says: "An image falls within this subsection if it portrays, in an explicit and realistic way... an act which results, or is likely to result, in serious injury to a person’s anus, breasts or genitals.”
The trial, which opened on Monday, is listed for seven days at Kingston Upon Thames Crown Court.
If convicted, Walsh faces up to three years in prison and inclusion on the Sex Offenders' Register.