Britain's film censors yesterday lifted the ban on the video release of Sam Peckinpah's notorious 1971 film, Straw Dogs, which has been described as "one of the strongest statements about violence ever put on screen".

The decision by the British Board of Film Classification follows advice from clinical psychologists who specialise in work with sex offenders, and a focus group panel.

The release of Straw Dogs on video in October will mark the end of the censorship of a clutch of films which were first seen on British screens in the 1970s. They include The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, The Exorcist, The Driller Killer, and indirectly, A Clockwork Orange.

The decision not to allow the film, which starred Dustin Hoffman and Susan George, a video release was last confirmed in 1999 by the BBFC director, Andreas Whittam Smith, because of a four minute rape scene which appeared to endorse the idea that women secretly enjoy being raped.

The BBFC said yesterday that the version now approved for video release was different from that submitted in 1999 and restored much of the "unambiguously unpleasant" rape. "It now makes it quite clear that sexual assault is not something that Amy (the character played by Susan George) ultimately welcomes."

The psychologists told the film classifiers that the present version of Straw Dogs was not harmful and did not reinforce any myths about rape.

A focus group of the public largely favoured passing the film uncut with 20 out of 26 people agreeing that 18 was the most appropriate certificate.

Straw Dogs was given an X certificate in 1971 for cinema release.