A 40-year-old man who posted a naked picture of a woman on Facebook has been given a suspended prison sentence for the new offence of revenge pornography.
Simon Humphrey was sentenced to four months’ imprisonment, suspended for 18 months, and a restraining order was also put in place for 18 months to prevent him from contacting his victim.
An earlier hearing at St Albans magistrates court was told that he had set the photograph as his profile picture on Facebook in June 2015. It was the victim’s child who first noticed it being used.
Humphrey was arrested and subsequently pleaded guilty to one charge relating to revenge pornography – the sharing of explicit or sexual images without consent – which was made a specific criminal offence in April as part of the Criminal Justice and Courts Act.
Ruth Bowskill, deputy chief crown prosecutor for CPS Thames and Chiltern, said: “By his own admission Simon Humphrey knew the damage that his actions would cause and yet this did not stop him. This sort of harassment and bullying will not be tolerated and we will do everything in our power to obtain justice for victims of this crime by robustly prosecuting all those who engage in such malicious activity.
Jef McAllister, a solicitor at McAllister Olivarius, who was not involved in the case but has followed the evolution of the law in relation to revenge porn, said he was glad that such cases were getting publicity.
“The law has only been in effect since April so there has not been that much time but I am glad to see that prosecutors are using it and making sure the cases are publicised, which I think is going to act as a deterrent,” he said.
He added: “This is a serious crime causing real harm, and has a two-year imprisonment as its maximum penalty. I do think judges are likely to be reluctant to put people in jail unless there has been a pattern of abuse. That said, those case do exist.”
Revenge pornography is officially categorised as the sharing of private, sexual materials, either photos or videos, of another person without their consent and with the purpose of causing embarrassment or distress.
Cases of revenge pornography were reported earlier this year to have risen markedly, with alleged victims ranging from 11-year-olds to pensioners.
Laura Higgins, founder of the Revenge Porn Helpline, said that she was not surprised that some of the sentences being handed down in the cases of those convicted of the new offence were quite light so far.
“That’s because the law only came into effect in April and so the cases which have come to court so far have been the ‘quick wins’ - while not taking away the impact on the victim,” she added.
“The cases that we more usually get involved in - where there has been ongoing harassment for months and pictures have been put on various websites for example - are much more complex and need a lot more investigation. I think we are going to start seeing them in future”
