Justice for Georgia Harrison following Stephen Bear conviction

Stephen Bear was recently found guilty by unanimous verdicts of two counts of disclosing private sexual photographs and films of his ex Georgia Harrison, with intent to cause distress and voyeurism. Bear will face sentencing on 31 January 2023. The team discuss the case and the lessons that, perhaps, ought to be learnt from it.

In August 2020, Stephen Bear had secretly filmed himself and his ex-girlfriend Georgia Harrison having consensual sex on CCTV. Harrison was unaware she was being filmed, and after finding out, she thought the footage would stay private.

Bear shortly sent the video to someone on WhatsApp but said that he had deleted the video.

By October 2022, Harrison heard rumours of others seeing the video online on Bear’s OnlyFans account. It was later uploaded to PornHub. The team discuss the case and the lessons that, perhaps, ought to be learnt from it.

Georgia Harrison Spoke out following the verdict:

“Bear’s behaviour was completely unacceptable and those who choose to commit such crimes should and will be prosecuted.

“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.

“I hope me taking a stand gives other men and women who have fallen victim to revenge porn the courage to seek justice and most importantly show them that they have absolutely nothing to be ashamed of.

“I have felt ashamed, hurt, violated, even broken at times but today I stand here feeling empowered, grateful and a huge sense of unity with all of those who have reached out to support me throughout this ordeal.

Revenge porn: The facts and figures

(Nearly 19,000 victims of so-called revenge porn in four years, investigation finds – Channel 4 News)

• According to Channel 4, figures in January 2022 revealed that there have been 19,000 known revenge porn victims in the UK in 4 years
• BBC news 2 August 2022 report: Revenge porn cases double in 5 years
• Shockingly, children younger than 10 years old are amongst this figure
• Almost 80% of reported victims were women and girls
• The majority of suspects (62%) male
• Almost 2,000 of these victims under the age of 18 at the time the reported incident occurred
• More than 4,500 reports involved a partner or ex-partner
• Thoughts: Is modern technology to blame for the rise? issues of apps increasing accessibility to revenge porn content – it is able to spread quickly on social media, websites etc.

The Law Regarding Revenge Porn in the UK

• Contained within S33 of the Criminal Justice and Courts Act 2015
• When this legislation came into force a new criminal offence was created making it a criminal offence to disclose private sexual photographs with the intent to cause distress and without consent.
• In order to prove that the offence has been committed, the prosecution are required to prove several elements: the image/video is private, the image/video is sexual, the image or video has been disclosed, shared without consent, and it has been shared with the intention to cause distress.
• What penalties can you face for revenge porn? S33(9) outlines potential sentences as: a maximum penalty of two years imprisonment, an unlimited fine, or both.