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The apparent "victims" were alive and well, and soon told the police that they were participating in private homosexual BDSM activities. Although all of those seen in the videos stated that they were willing participants in the activities depicted on the videos, the police and Crown Prosecution Service insisted on pressing charges. Sixteen men were charged with various offences, including " assault with actual bodily harm " (ABH).
The trial judge ruled that consent was not a valid defence to ABH, and the defendants pleaded guilty. The case was appealed first to the High Court, then to the House of Lords.
An attempt to overturn the convictions in the European Court of Human Rights in 1997 failed.
The legal rationale for the decisions were broadly speaking as follows: 1. (UK courts) A person does not have the legal ability to consent to receive an act which will seriously harm them, such as branding or other intense activities of a S&M nature. 2. (European Courts) Whilst a person has a general right of free will, a state may as a matter of public policy restrict that in certain cases, for example for the general public good. The present case was judged by the European Court to have fallen within the sovereign scope of the UK Government's right to determine its legality, and human rights legislation would not overrule this.
The fallout from the Spanner case led to the setting up of the SM Pride and Spanner Trust organizations.
As a result of the Spanner case, the Law Commission is currently investigating the status of consensual sadomasochistic acts in the law of EnglandEngland is the largest, the most populous, and the most densely populated of the four " Home Nations" which make up the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (UK). Occupying the south-eastern portion of the island of Great Britain, England and WalesFor alternate meanings, see Wales (disambiguation Wales ( Welsh: Cymru pronounced /"k@mrI/ SAMPA, km IPA, 'Kumree' approximate pronunciation) is one of the four nations comprising the United Kingdom (the other three being England, Scotland and Northern Ir.