 A significant development in body piercing in England occurred in 1987 , when during Operation Spanner , a group of homosexuals — including well known body piercer Alan Oversby — were convicted of assault for their involvement in consensual sadomasochism over a 10 @-@ year period , including acts of body piercing . The courts declared that decorative body piercing was not illegal , but that erotic body piercing was . Subsequently , the group Countdown on Spanner formed in 1992 in protest . The group appealed the decision before the High Court of Justice , the House of Lords and finally the European Commission of Human Rights , attempting to overturn the verdict which ruled consent immaterial in acts of sadomasochism , without success . In spite of their repeated failures , the situation publicized the issue , with The Times editorializing the court 's decision as " illiberal nonsense " in 1993 . 
