UK- Measures to combat violent pornography on the internet are to be announced by the Government after international talks aimed at blocking websites that glamorize necrophilia, female strangulation and torture.

The proposals, to be outlined in the next few months, are expected to mirror moves taken to tackle internet child pornography and to include the strengthening of police powers to pursue offenders. Earlier this year, Charles Clarke, the Home Secretary, met the mother of Jane Longhurst, 31, a teacher from Brighton, East Sussex, who was murdered by a male friend who was addicted to violent internet pornography.

Miss Longhurst’s family was shocked to learn that such material was freely available on the internet and appalled that there was no clampdown following the conviction of her killer last year. The websites he frequented, many accessed free, featured photographs of women being strangled, hanged and abused, descriptions of necrophiliac acts and claims that women saw strangulation as the ultimate sexual thrill.

The Government said then that it was concerned about the availability of such material and was examining measures to combat it.

Currently, there is a lack of international agreement on what constitutes obscene, and therefore illegal, images. Most sites carrying images of rape, necrophilia and asphyxia are registered abroad and not subject to British law.

The sites tend not to feature child pornography, which galvanises much of the international effort to tackle pornography on the internet.

Any British site which carries violent pornography can be closed down, but it is legal to view and download such images from overseas websites. New legislation could be introduced making it an offence to view such sites.

“We want to do all we can to block access to illegal sites,” a Home Office spokesman said yesterday. Frank Glen, of the Internet Watch Foundation, which promotes voluntary self-regulation, said at present it could investigate only websites based in Britain.

“We cannot tell countries to take down material that may be legitimate within their own jurisdiction,” he said. “At the moment, if you pay to join these sites, view the images or download them you are not breaking UK law.”

The Government is looking at ways of blocking access in Britain to websites hosted abroad. Discussions on this have been held between the G8 countries and with the internet industry. The Government may also look at working with internet service providers and credit card companies, through which people to pay to access violent pornography on the web.

Miss Longhurst’s mother, Liz, 74, set up a campaign against internet pornography after Graham Coutts, her daughter’s killer, was jailed for life at Lewes Crown Court last year.

Coutts, 36, lost an appeal against his murder conviction, although his minimum sentence was cut to 26 years. In April he was given leave to challenge a point of law which could lead to a retrial.