A change in the law in England and Wales will make it easier to prosecute people for sharing so-called 'revenge porn', better known as image-based sexual abuse.
New amendments to the Online Safety Bill mean victims will no longer have to prove that explicit photos have been distributed with the intent of causing distress.
The changes come after campaigning from former Love Islander Georgia Harrison, who waived her right to anonymity when taking her ex Stephen Bear to court.
Bear was jailed for 21 months in March, after having been found guilty of voyeurism and disclosing private, sexual photograph and films without consent.
Georgia has said the reforms to the law will "go down in history as a turning points for generations to come" and will give future victims the "justice they deserve".
The crackdown is a huge milestone for those subjected to the crime, but is it enough to support victims? The Mirror spoke to some of those affected to find out...
Maria* was in her forties when her ex-fiancé and business partner uploaded explicit images of her without consent on their shared work database, which colleagues could access.
"I felt very betrayed and humiliated. We were together for 13 years and we had been engaged. I thought we had a strong relationship," Maria told the Mirror.
"I am quite shy about my body. My partner bullied me into having sexual images taken and he knew I didn't feel comfortable about it, but he told me, 'It's just for me'.
"I went into the office one day to find out that our staff had seen the photos and my ex was threatening to put them online. He had a lot of mental health problems.
"But to know that he deliberately showed them to people we treated like family made me angry and upset. It was a horrible feeling running the business."
Humiliated Maria found out the news when she received an anonymous email from a person that she suspected was one of her employees.
"It read, 'Do you know that Andy* has distributed images of you as a dominatrix amongst staff and clients?' The details were very specific," she said.
Maria felt obliged to ring her father, who was in his seventies, to warn him that the private sexual photos of her might be shared publicly online.
"My dad said to me, 'It really doesn't matter. There's so much pornography out there'. I felt so relieved to have that family support," she explained.
Maria claimed the police refused to get involved because her fiancé wasn't living in the UK at the time, despite having been in the country for nearly a decade.
"I had no protection at all. He made my life a living hell for 18 months. The images were just part of it. He sent me abusive emails, death threats and my house was broken into regularly," she said.
"I felt like the police didn't take it seriously at all. I was absolutely powerless. Distributing intimate images wasn't a criminal offence. Laws were coming in, but they weren't being implemented."
At the time, Section 33 of the Criminal Justice and Court Act 2015 had only just been passed and wasn't widely known or discussed.
"I had difficulty proving the crime. It felt like a bit of a joke and I was judged for taking part in the photos. There was some sort of comedic value to other men," Maria explained.
"I can see now that my partner was controlling and manipulative. I don't blame myself. If I didn't accept that, I'd go mad. It says more about him than it does about me.
"I've never stumbled across the images of myself online and I won't go looking, but I know they are out there."
Speaking about the new law changes, Maria said: "Intimate image abuse should be a criminal offence and I think it's good that perpetrators will be punished. It's going in the right direction.
"But I wonder how effective it's going to be. The police are under-resourced and without the funding or dedicated departments, I don't see how it's going to make much of a difference."
Maria isn't alone in her experience. Image-based sexual abuse is a huge problem in the digital age and according to new data by Refuge, offences are rising year-on-year.
Lauren Evans was 23 years old when she discovered a fetish Twitter account with explicit images of her face and body, that had been shared without her consent over an eight-year period.
"I didn't understand what was happening and I felt in a state of shock. You never imagine something like that will happen to you," Lauren previously told the Mirror. "It was really disgusting and horrible to read and look at."
Lauren instantly suspected an older guy that she'd been talking to online for a long while, and reached out to Thames Valley Police (TVP) straight away.
"I had my first interview with my case officer and I will never forget what she said to me: 'Well, at least you've learned your lesson now'," Lauren explained.
"She didn't seem to be on my side and I felt really suicidal afterwards. I had to get someone to stay with me because I felt unsafe in my own body.
"I questioned who would believe me or understand me if the police didn't even feel bad for me. I just wanted to die. It felt like my whole life was ruined forever."
Lauren reached out to the Revenge Porn Helpline where a wonderful team of people listened to her and contacted websites to take down as many images as possible.
A couple of months later, Jason McDermott, of Harlow, Essex, was arrested and pleaded guilty to obtaining and sharing underage images.
"He wasn't prosecuted for image-based sexual abuse because we hadn't been in a relationship. It was not satisfying at all," Lauren said. "I was still paranoid and I went into a spiral of depression and anxiety."
Back in 2016, Lauren never got the justice she deserved, but she's confident that the outcome would be different if it happened today - down to public cases like Georgia Harrison's.
Lauren, now 31, is supportive of the new amendments to the Online Safety Bill and she hopes it will eradicate victim-blaming and encourage more people to step forward.
"It's an incredibly necessary change because, by removing some of the 'blame' from the victims, it keeps the focus where it should be - on the actual crime itself," Lauren said.
A spokesperson from TVP commented: "Thames Valley Police carried out an investigation which resulted in a conviction and subsequent sentencing of a man in relation to distributing an indecent photograph/pseudo-photograph of a child and possessing a prohibited image of a child."
The Revenge Porn Helpline works incredibly hard to support victims of intimate image abuse like Lauren, by advising how to report crimes to the police and social media.
Manager Sophie Mortimer has shared that she is "delighted" by the Government's commitment to make changes to the Online Safety Bill, but she believes there is much more to be done.
"Through the cases we manage at the Revenge Porn Helpline, we know that women and girls are disproportionately affected by this behaviour and greater protections for them, and effective prosecution of perpetrators, are a significant step towards better justice outcomes for all," she said.
"There is, however, more to do. Currently there is no right for victims to have their intimate content removed from the internet post-conviction, an injustice that is still not covered by law."
Sophie is passionate about continuing the fight to better protect and safeguard victims, and said it is crucial for the Government to ensure non-consensual explicit images are taken down.
"We would hope that this is still actively addressed to better support those experiencing intimate image abuse," she added.
Ruth Davison, the chief executive of domestic abuse organisation Refuge, added: "Refuge welcomes these amendments to the Online Safety Bill. Intimate image abuse is a multifaceted and complex form of domestic abuse, which can be perpetrated in many ways.
"At Refuge, we know that conviction rates for intimate image abuse remain woefully low. The amendments to the Online Safety Bill announced today will make it easier to prosecute perpetrators of intimate image abuse, ensuring justice and better protections for survivors."
*Maria and Andy's names have been changed.
The Revenge Porn Helpline is available on 0345 6000 459 or help@revengepornhelpline.org.uk.
Are you a victim of image-based sexual abuse? Get in touch. Email nia.dalton@reachplc.com.
