First ‘intimate images’ conviction under new legislation

Kenneth Robinson, from Northumberland, pled guilty to sending his former partner numerous emails and repeatedly threatening to upload a video to the internet. The procurator fiscal sought and was granted a three year long order banning him from approaching or contacting his victim.

He was also ordered to pay his victim £200 in compensation.

He had previously pled guilty at Jedburgh Sheriff Court on 7 August.

This is the first conviction under section 2(1) of the Abusive Behaviour and Sexual Harm (Scotland) Act 2016 since this section came into force on 3 July 2017.

The Abusive Behaviour and Sexual Harm (Scotland) Bill was passed by the Scottish Parliament on 22 March 2016 and received Royal Assent on 28 April 2016.

Anne Marie Hicks, national procurator fiscal for domestic abuse said: “This conviction under the new legislation sends a clear message that behaviour like this is unacceptable and that those who disclose or threaten to disclose intimate images will be dealt with seriously by the criminal justice system.”

The conviction comes as it was revealed this week that ‘sextortion’ is on the rise.

In addition to cases of the kind above, the practice also sees gangs lure people into sharing sexually explicit images before threatening to share them online unless they pay.

The National Crime Agency (NCA) said the true number of cases may be much higher and attributed the increase in figures to better reporting.

David Jones, head of the NCA’s anti-kidnap and extortion unit, said: “This is a project that is very close to my heart after the sad deaths of four young men because of sextortion reported in recent times. I strongly suspect there may be other suicides linked to it, but I have no evidence for that. It’s just my speculation.

“We are keeping this issue on the public radar, first and foremost … making sure all intelligence packages are collated and gathered together to fully exploit all opportunities to put people before judicial systems.”