In December 1990 sixteen gay men were given prison sentences of up to four and a half years or fined for engaging in consensual SM (Sadomasochism) activity. This followed a nationwide police investigation called Operation Spanner, prompted by a chance finding of a videotape of SM activities. Their convictions have now been upheld by both the Court of Appeal the Law Lords in the UK and the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg. 

The evidence against the men convicted through Operation Spanner comprised of the videotape originally seized and their own statements. When they were questioned by the police, the men were confident that their activities were lawful, because they had consented to them, so they freely admitted to taking part. Without these statements and the videotape, the police would have had no evidence to present against the men and would have found it impossible to bring any prosecutions. The men faced a wide range of charges including assault. Bizarrely, some of the men who participated in the activities as “bottoms” or submissives, were convicted of aiding and abetting assaults upon themselves.

In later appeals The House of Lords ruled that consent was not a legal defence for causing actual bodily harm, a decision that had wide ranging implications and led to a national debate about how consent was defined and how far the government should intervene in sexual encounters between consenting adults. 

The original investigation, led by the Obscene Publications Squad of the Metropolitan Police, began in 1987 and ran for three years, during which approximately 100 gay and bisexual men were questioned by the police.

The protest groups, such as Countdown on Spanner and SM Pride, that emerged following the Spanner prosecutions attempted to get the law changed without success. It remains the case that anyone who engages in SM activities that result in marks that are anything more than transient or trifling could be prosecuted. This applies to everyone regardless of their sexual orientation and gender identity. The limits of what can be lawfully consented to remain unclear.

Scope and Content

Bishopsgate Institute holds three major collections concerning Operation Spanner, the case and its aftermath. These include the Archives of the Spanner Trust (The Spanner Archive), personal records maintained by Roland Jaggard, one of the men prosecuted under the Spanner case (The Spanner Case Archive or SCA Archive) and earlier records regarding Countdown on Spanner, donated by Rob Grover (COS Archive. The catalogues of these archives are included below.

Quantity

19 Boxes (in total)