Threatening to share or leak intimate sexual photos or videos is soon to become illegal, the Government has announced.
The change in the law, which has been brought about by the tireless work of campaigners, could see perpetrators face up to two years in prison if they threaten to share "revenge porn" - the posting of private, sexual photos or videos of another person without their consent in an effort to humiliate or harm them.
The changes come as part of a stack of new amendments and alterations to the Domestic Abuse Bill, which is expected to be given Royal Assent later in the spring and would make them legally binding.
Non-fatal strangulation will also become a specific criminal offence punishable by up to five years behind bars after the amendments come into effect.
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Revenge porn has been illegal in the UK since 2015, but threatening to release pictures was never covered under that law - which has left thousands of victims with no legal protection when reporting abuse to police.
Women's charity Refuge, who has lobbied the government to change the law through their Naked Threat campaign, found one in seven women have been threatened to leak intimate images - with young women more likely to have been subjected to the threat.
The charity has now praised the government's decision to change the law, saying "thousands of women will now have the protection they deserve."
Lisa King, Refuge's director of communications, said: "Up until now, women haven't had a recourse to go to the police to have anything done about [threats to share intimate images] - it's just something perpetrators can get away with. That's really frightening.
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"We're delighted that the Government has listened to a very pressing issue that impacts so many lives."
She continued to Metro: "We're going to need to keep the pressure on so that police are trained as quickly as possible, so they know these new changes are in place and that women have the right to press charges if they are experiencing such threats."
Lord Chancellor Robert Buckland QC MP said: "This Bill provides a once-in-a-generation opportunity to strengthen our response to domestic abuse and its many forms."
The news comes just a week after Zara McDermott explained her experience of revenge porn in a new BBC documentary, titled Zara McDermott: Revenge Porn.
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She has since explained she still feels traumatised from being a victim of having nude images released twice - once when she was just 14 years old.
"I got to a place where I was suicidal. That's how bad it was," she told BBC News.
"Knowing that when [the images] came out, I was actually going to be bullied more - that was something I couldn't bear. I'd say it does still affect me to this day."
Featured Image Credit: UnsplashTopics: UK News, News, Sex and Relationships