Editing Operation Spanner (section)

=== Court of Appeal ===
Five of the defendants appealed to the [[Court of Appeal (England and Wales)|Court of Appeal]] in February 1992.<ref name=":15">{{Cite news|title=Convictions for sado-masochist assault upheld|last=Victor|first=Peter|date=20 February 1992|work=[[The Times]]}}</ref> Three judges, headed by the [[Lord Chief Justice of England and Wales|Lord Chief Justice]] [[Geoffrey Lane, Baron Lane|Lord Lane]], upheld the men's convictions, ruling that their consent to the activities involved was "immaterial".<ref name=":16">{{Cite news|title=Sado-masochists guilty verdict upheld|last=Dyer|first=Clare|date=20 February 1992|work=The Guardian}}</ref> However, Lord Lane acknowledged that the men did not appreciate that their acts were criminal, and therefore reduced five of the prison sentences handed down by Judge Rant, cutting the longest down to six months.<ref name=":16" />

Lord Lane granted the men leave to appeal to the [[Judicial functions of the House of Lords|House of Lords]], which at the time was the UK's highest court of appeal, saying there was a "general public importance" in settling the question of whether the prosecution must prove that a victim did not consent before it could obtain a conviction for assault or wounding.<ref name=":15" />