Phone confiscated from me by police? had hardly any involvement in situation!?

[El Jefe]

First, obviously, this is about child pornography. It doesn't matter how big a s__t Leah is or that she had s_xted Marissa. If Leah is under 18, the photos are child pornography, and cannot be legally kept by anyone, not you, not Marissa, not even Leah (yeah, I know she can see the same thing by looking at herself in the bathroom mirror, but the law says not even Leah can have them).

It is also against the law to transmit those images. That means, show them to anyone or send them to anyone. So, technically, you, Leah, and Marissa have all committed crimes.

Now, let me impress upon you how serious these offenses are. The maximum penalty for possessing a single one of these images under UK law is 10 years imprisonment. 10 YEARS. This is not like shoplifting, where someone will get a little slap on the wrist.

Next, let's look at possession. Who possessed the images? You did, on your phone. The phone, and everything in it, is evidence, just like a photograph of a dead body taken as a trophy by a serial killer. You aren't getting it back anytime soon. They will go through everything in that phone's memory in great detail, and then go into Facebook and get archived images from Facebook's servers. All that will be assembled as evidence, showing exactly who did what with the images and when they did it. Don't be surprised if additional phones are confiscated...Leah's especially.

The fact that they have your phone is the least of your worries. What you need to worry about now is whether you will get a reprimand, a final caution, or be summoned to court to face charges for a serious crime.

What works in your favor is your age; generally they are relatively lenient about this sort of thing in the UK for minors. If you were 18 or older, you would certainly be facing arrest and trial.