Standing Up For The Victims Of "Revenge Porn"

• Published date: 09 March 2023
• Subject Matter: Litigation, Mediation & Arbitration, Media, Telecoms, IT, Entertainment, Criminal Law, Family and Matrimonial, IT and Internet, Trials & Appeals & Compensation, Social Media, Crime, Divorce
• Law Firm: Birketts
• Author: Ms Emma Brunning and Daden Hunt

Image-based sexual abuse is not a new problem. Margaret, Duchess of Argyll experienced nude photographs of herself revealed during a bitter divorce in 1963. However, smart phones and the internet have made image-based abuse far more accessible to its perpetrators. For those who are victims of this abuse, the effects can be devastating.

Imagine discovering that your partner has shared CCTV footage of you having sex on line

The Love Island star, Georgia Harrison, was in this situation. Having discovered that her then partner, former Celebrity Big Brother winner Stephen Bear, had captured them having sex on his CCTV cameras, and despite her asking him not to share the video, he shared them on multiple platforms before removing them a short while later. Georgia took a stand, and with the support of Essex Police, she bravely waived her right to anonymity to raise awareness of the effect revenge porn can have. She reported feeling ashamed, hurt, violated and even broken at times. She said:

'We are living in a time where so much of our lives and our children's lives are spent online and it is so important that individuals are protected in the virtual world just as they are in reality. Social media has given us the egalitarian belief that we are all publishers but what it hasn't done is regulate what we should responsibly publish.'

In December 2022, a jury sitting in Chelmsford Crown Court found Stephen guilty of two counts of disclosing private sexual photographs and films with intent to cause distress and of voyeurism. On 3 March 2023, he was sentenced to 21 months imprisonment. Further, a restraining order prevents him from contacting Georgia for five years and his name has been entered on the Sex Offenders Register for ten years. Georgia has reported having to endure 63 million hits on her Instagram page on the week of the video's release, being ridiculed by Stephen on social media, 'Georgia Harrison sex tape' trending on-line and the pain of knowing that all of her friends and family were aware of it. We hope that the sentence brings Georgia at least some form of peace and enables her to begin to rebuild her life.

Importantly, the severity of the sentence sends a strong message that such behaviour is a crime and can have serious consequences for the perpetrator.

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