Anyone caught with drawings or computer-generated images of child sexual abuse will face up to three years in prison under new Government proposals that have been announced.

Ministers want to make owning the material illegal to close a loophole which allows paedophiles to dodge justice by turning real photographs or videos of abuse into drawings or cartoons.

Justice minister Maria Eagle said the move was not intended to curb creativity or freedom of expression but to tackle images which had "no place in society".

A screenshot from the Second Life virtual world

Ms Eagle said: "These new proposals will help close a loophole that we believe paedophiles are using to create images of child sexual abuse.

"This is not about criminalising art or pornographic cartoons more generally, but about targeting obscene, and often very realistic, images of child sexual abuse which have no place in our society."

Selling or distributing such material is already illegal under the Obscene Publications Act, but owning drawings or computer generated images of child abuse is currently not an offence.

When a Sky News journalist investigated the Second Life virtual world, he found not only the expected sex industry outlets but also an appalling underworld for paedophile fantasies.

It is in such places that it is feared abusers are able to get together and share computer-generated images of their activities – without fear of prosecution.

The Government wants to see a maximum three-year jail sentence brought in for possessing the images, compared with a maximum five-year term for possessing indecent photographs of children.

The proposals will create a new criminal offence to possess drawings and computer-generated images of under-aged children in sexual activity.

The move follows a public consultation by the Ministry of Justice on non-photographic representations of minors involved in sexual activity.