Mum handed first jail sentence for posting ‘revenge porn’ snaps of ex-girlfriend
A woman has become the first person to be jailed under the UKās new ārevenge pornā laws ā after she posted her ex-girlfriendās sex pictures to Facebook.
Samantha Watt, of Enfield, North London, was found to have posted āgraphic sexual imagesā of her former lover on Facebook after their breakup.
Posting a photo of the graphic sex act, Watt wrote: āThis girl pays for rent with sex and dirty pics lol she wants a taste of Samās life sheās getting a taste of how I can be. You canāt disrespect me.ā
After Watt pleaded guilty under laws passed earlier this year that make revenge porn a criminal offence, she was today jailed for 18 weeks.
She is the first person to be handed a jail sentence under the new laws, which are intended to serve as a deterrent to taking revenge against former lovers online.
Watt admitted two charges of disclosing private sexual photographs with the intent to cause distress ā which makes it a crime to share private explicit photos without consent.
The victim cannot be named for legal reasons.
Detective Constable Henry Marshall said: āSamantha Watt deliberately and callously set out to cause the victim distress, humiliation and embarrassment.
āBy publishing these private images on social media without the victimās consent, she broke the law and it is right that she now faces this custodial sentence.ā
The court heard previously: āThere was a sexual relationship between them.
āDuring the course of the relationship the victim consented to the defendant taking intimate photographs of her.
āThe victim in her statement makes it clear that she consented on the basis that they were private and were never to be shown to anybody.
āOn the 1 July this year the victim logged onto Facebook and saw that the defendant had published two intimate photographs.ā
The mum-of-four is now facing a jail term ā after the legal assessor recommended a custodial sentence.
