Sexual Offences Act 2003

124 Section 123: interpretation

(1) Subsections (2) to (7) apply for the purposes of section 123.

(2) “Protecting children generally or any child from harm from the defendant” means protecting children generally or any child from physical or psychological harm, caused by the defendant doing acts within section 123(3).

(3) “Child” means a person under 16.

(4) “Image” means an image produced by any means, whether of a real or imaginary subject.

(5) “Sexual activity” means an activity that a reasonable person would, in all the circumstances but regardless of any person’s purpose, consider to be sexual.

(6) A communication is sexual if—

(a) any part of it relates to sexual activity, or

(b) a reasonable person would, in all the circumstances but regardless of any person’s purpose, consider that any part of the communication is sexual.

(7) An image is sexual if—

(a) any part of it relates to sexual activity, or

(b) a reasonable person would, in all the circumstances but regardless of any person’s purpose, consider that any part of the image is sexual.

(8) In this section, as it applies to Northern Ireland, subsection (3) has effect with the substitution of “17” for “16”.