The House of Lords has voted unanimously to back the campaign against revenge pornography, led by Dr Julian Huppert, MP for Cambridge.

The amendment to the Criminal Justice and Courts Bill will make it an illegal offence to share sexually explicit images of a previous partner, both online and offline, without the permission of the pictured individual.

It has previously not been a criminal offence to do so if the photograph was taken consensually. Offenders may now face a prison sentence if convicted for doing so; the length of the maximum sentence is as yet unspecified, but advisors have given estimates of between two to five years.

The ruling marks a successful end to the Liberal Democrat’s campaign.

Julian Huppert, the Liberal Democrat MP for Cambridge, has said of the completion that “it is a great success for all of us and will help to protect victims of this heinous crime”.

Huppert has also stated that measures will be taken to ensure that the law clearly penalises those who broadcast the images at a later stage, not the act of taking and of sending the image between two partners in the first instance.

It is hoped that this move will halt the viral circulation of indecent images, affecting men and women of all ages-as well as protecting the victims.

The campaign to criminalise revenge porn has been backed by the charity Women’s Aid, who stress that the personal impact of the circulation of such images “cannot be underestimated”, and should be considered a form of domestic abuse.

The legal amendment comes at a salient time in the circulation of intimate photographs on the internet, most recently those of celebrities such as Jennifer Lawrence, Kim Kardashian and Rihanna. The images were accessed illegally by hackers through the iCloud and posted widely on websites such as 4Chan and reddit.

Although notoriously difficult to rid websites of such images, the new legislation is an attempt to control and deter coercive forms of humiliation within the bounds of a relationship.

Ben Simpson, a second year from Jesus, welcomed the move: “This legislation is another move towards limiting the negative effects of evil use technology, and allows us to stop thinking about the potentially disastrous consequences of everything we do in our private lives.”