The new offences each carry a maximum penalty of five years' imprisonment, for publication.

According to the government, this could include uploading, posting or otherwise making the content available to someone online.

Possession, meanwhile, could include keeping an image stored on a phone, computer or in cloud storage, the government says.

Someone found to be in possession of images depicting sexual activity involving a person pretending to be under 16 could face up to three years' imprisonment, after 6 November.

Those found to be in possession of images depicting strangulation, suffocation or penetrative sexual activity between certain relatives could face up to two years' imprisonment.

Porn that shows or depicts sex between step or foster-relations where one person is pretending to be under 18 will also be captured by the new offences.

Durham University law professor Clare McGlynn - who has previously warned widely available extreme content normalises sexual violence - welcomed the laws taking full effect.

"This is a potential turning point, the commencement of these laws marking a line in the sand when we decided that we were no longer going to accept the normalisation of sexually violent content in pornography," she told the BBC.

But she said questions remained over how swiftly tech platforms and regulators would act to remove and mitigate the spread of violating material.

"While these are criminal offences, this is not about prosecuting individuals, but transforming the online pornographic landscape and that requires the platforms and regulator to act," Prof McGlynn added.

Additional reporting by Chris Vallance

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