Hate e-mail and text messages to be banned by English law

Amendments will be tabled today to the Criminal Justice and Police Bill. The Malicious Communications Act of 1988 will also be amended.

The measures were announced yesterday by Home Secretary Jack Straw as part of plans to tackle animal rights extremists and give better protection to the scientific community.

These laws will not apply in Scotland. However, the Telecommunications Act of 1984, which applies UK-wide, already prohibits obscene messages by telephone. It was used by a Scottish court last year to prosecute a man for sending offensive text messages by mobile phone. Common law crimes such as breach of the peace can also be applied in cases of intimidation and harassment and the Protection from Harassment Act 1997, also UK-wide, can be used to obtain orders against individuals in some circumstances.

The new proposals announced this week aim to help prevent protests outside people's homes and tackle the sending of hate mail, by electronic as well as traditional means, by:

• Giving the police additional powers to prevent or move protests at homes; and
• Amending the Malicious Communications Act 1988 to:

1. make the sending of hate mail an imprisonable offence;
2. prevent protesters abusing the defence of 'honest belief' that their behaviour was reasonable by introducing an objective test; and
3. ensure that e-mails and text messages would be covered.

The Government will also be issuing guidance to shareholders and employees who may be targeted by animal rights extremists, outlining steps they can take to improve their personal security and avoid unnecessary publication of their home addresses.

Mr Straw said:

“Shareholders can quite legitimately use a service address, such as the address of the company headquarters, rather than making their home address available on the register at Companies House. Some are unsure about how to do so. Our new guidance will outline the simple steps they can take to help protect themselves and their families.

"The UK has one of the strictest regimes in the world to control animal testing. The Government is committed to ensuring that animal experiments only take place where absolutely necessary, and has done a great deal to minimise testing on animals. This type of research saves lives and treats the illnesses of millions of people - the people conducting it must be able to go about their work free from the fear of violence or intimidation."

The Government is continuing to look at what further measures might be required to protect the home addresses of company directors.

The Government will table an amendment which would amend the Malicious Communications Act 1988 so that protesters cannot abuse an existing defence that they honestly believed their threats were reasonable.

At present, it is a defence under the Act for the sender of hate mail to claim they honestly believed it was reasonable behaviour. The amendment would create an objective test of defence (i.e., a reasonable person would have considered it reasonable to have sent the communication) rather than a subjective one as at present (i.e. the offender considered it to be justified).

The amendment would also ensure that communications sent by electronic means would be covered. Letters are already covered by the Act, however, it is unclear whether it would cover messages sent by e-mail and text messages - methods increasingly used to send threats. The amendment would make it absolutely clear that modern methods of communication would be covered.

Penalties will also be increased to six months in prison and/or a level 5 fine (£5000) - at present the maximum penalty is a fine of up to level 4 (£2500).