Man Receives Suspended Prison Sentence Revenge Porn x 2 Stevenage Magistrates Court 2024
Man receives suspended sentence for harassment, threatening to disclose sexual images and theft at Stevenage Magistrates court.
Our client faced two charges of disclosing / threatening to disclose private sexual photographs and films with intent to cause distress, contrary to section 33(1) and (9) of the Criminal Justice and Courts Act 2015. This offence is committed when private sexual images or film are disclosed, or threatened to be disclosed, without the consent of the individual who appears in the image or video.
Further, the client faced two charges of harassment without violence contrary to section 2(1) and (2) of the Protection from Harassment Act 1997. This offence can be committed when a course of conduct is pursued which the defendant knew or ought to have known would amount to harassment. In this instance the client had sent multiple explicit images and videos of himself to the victim and attended her home address multiple times.
Further the client faced two charges of theft contrary to section 1(1) of the Theft Act 1968 . Theft is committed when a person dishonestly appropriates property belonging to another with the intention of permanently depriving that other of it. In this instance the client had stolen a wheelbarrow and a mobile phone.
The client had plead guilty to all six counts, and we represented him at Stevenage Magistrates’ Court for sentencing. Due to the number of charges, and a previous history of offending, a custodial sentence was highly likely. The client was facing a maximum sentence of two years custody for disclosing images, six months custody for harassment and seven years custody for theft. The offences of harassment and disclosing images were determined to be category 1, meaning the highest level of harm was caused. Therefore achieving a suspended sentence was an unlikely outcome for the client. We therefore represented the client to put forward his mitigating factors and advocate for a suspended sentence. We were successful in doing so, and the client was given a sentence of 8 weeks suspended for 18 months.