Overview

The non-fatal strangulation offence is a UK criminal-law offence concerning the criminalisation of strangulation. The supplied news context states that non-fatal strangulation is already an offence in its own right, while showing it online was not illegal before the announced ban.

The available research extracts do not identify the exact statute, commencement date, or penalties for this offence. They do note that the Offences Against the Person Act 1861 consolidated provisions on offences against the person, including bodily injury and assault, and that the Act did not extend to Scotland.

Relevance to pornography regulation

The offence is relevant to recent UK policy on online pornography. The government announced that pornography depicting strangulation or suffocation would be outlawed from 6 November, following a 2025 review by Gabby Bertin that recommended bans on such content. The review said pornography showing women being choked could have harmful real-world consequences.

Campaigners welcomed the announcement as a step against the normalisation of violence against women and girls, and called for effective enforcement and stronger regulation of online platforms.