Page:Protection of Children Act 1978.pdf/3

2c. 37 (4) Where a person is charged with an offence under subsection (1)(b) or (c), it shall be a defence for him to prove—
 * (a) that he had a legitimate reason for distributing or showing the photographs or (as the case may be) having them in his possession; or
 * (b) that he had not himself seen the photographs and did not know, nor had any cause to suspect, them to be indecent.

(5) References in the Children and Young Persons Act 1933 (except in sections 15 and 99) to the offences mentioned in Schedule 1 to that Act shall include an offence under subsection (1)(a) above.

(6) Offences under this Act shall be included—
 * (a) in the list of extradition crimes contained in Schedule 1 to the Extradition Act 1870 ; and
 * (b) among the descriptions of offences set out in Schedule 1 to the Fugitive Offenders Act 1967 ;

and sections 17 and 22 of the 1870 Act and sections 16 and 17 of the 1967 Act (application to Channel Islands, Isle of Man and United Kingdom dependencies) extend to this subsection.

(7) In paragraph 1 of the Schedule to the Visiting Forces Act 1952 (offences against the person in the case of which a member of a visiting force is in certain circumstances not liable to be tried by a United Kingdom court), after sub-paragraph (b)(viii) (inserted by the Sexual Offences Act 1956) there shall be added
 * “(ix) section 1(1)(a) of the Protection of Children Act 1978”.

2.—(1) On a charge of an offence under section 1(1)(a) of this Act, the wife or husband of the accused shall be competent to give evidence at every stage of the proceedings, whether for the defence or for the prosecution, and whether the accused is charged solely or jointly with any other person:

Provided that—
 * (a) the wife or husband shall not be compellable either to give evidence or, in giving evidence, to disclose any communications made to her or him during the marriage by the accused ; and
 * (b) the failure of a wife or husband of the accused to give evidence shall not be made the subject of any comment by the prosecution.

(2) This subsection shall not affect section 1 of the Criminal Evidence Act 1898 (competency of witnesses in criminal cases), or any case where the wife or husband of the accused may at