Section 280/1: Recording a sexual offence for unlawful gain

Firm annotation

Section 280/1 creates no offence of its own. It is an aggravating provision that operates only where the accused is an offender under Section 276 (rape by coercion), Section 277 (sexual intercourse with a child not over fifteen), Section 278 (indecent act by coercion) or Section 279 (indecent act against a child not over fifteen). Paragraph one applies where that offender made an image or sound recording of the intercourse or the indecent act in order to obtain an unlawful benefit for himself or for another person, and increases the penalty of the underlying section by one third. The purpose of unlawful benefit is an element, so a recording made without it does not engage this section. Paragraph two applies where the same offender then disseminates or forwards the recording, and increases the underlying penalty by one half. Both paragraphs are uplifts rather than free-standing penalties, so the underlying offence must first be made out. The section also reaches only that offender: a third person who receives the recording and circulates it falls outside it and must be dealt with under other provisions, such as Section 287/1 or Section 287/2 where the material is child pornography. Section 285 and Section 285/2 are the other one-third uplifts on the same group of sexual offences, based respectively on the offender's relationship to the victim and on the victim's inability to protect themselves.