A woman whose stalker ex-partner leaked intimate photos of her online has welcomed changes to Government legislation, but said: "We still have a long way to go." After a new amendment to the Online Safety Bill, the Ministry of Justice announced last week prosecutors will no longer have to prove intimate and explicit images had been leaked with intent to cause distress.
Karolina Smith, 26, was stalked and harassed by her ex-partner, Ben Rothon, 37. He posted 'countless' intimate images of her on an Instagram account which was shared to her friends and family, a court heard.
In 2019, a judge at Basildon Crown Court found him guilty of stalking causing serious alarm or distress, including an offence for disclosing private sexual content, relating to naked images. He is also subject to a restraining order - which is valid for another six years.
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Karolina says the crime nearly led her to taking her own life - and she was 'heartbroken' to have to prove it in court.
The recent university graduate, from Lancaster, Lancashire, said: "To see these changes to the law is amazing - when it happened to me, I didn’t feel like I had any support.
"I was told by a barrister I’d have to talk through my victim statement in court to prove the Instagram account was damaging to me. I thought it was just a given. It's such a horrible crime, I don’t think victims should have to go the extra mile to prove how horrible it was. To be told I’d need to talk through the effect it had on me in court was really, really heartbreaking.
"Many, many victims are taking their own lives due to image-based sexual abuse. If I didn’t have the support of my boyfriend throughout - I wouldn’t be here today."
Despite the recent change, Karolina believes there is still a long way to go until victims feel heard. She added: "When I called the police about what had happened to me - I didn’t even realise it was a crime. It was just a last resort. I was told I could block the account, but they couldn’t do anything to get it taken down.
"I had to send it to my most trusted friends and family members so they could all report it for me. There needs to be specific units dedicated to tackling image-based abuse so they can advise us in a practical way from the start.
"The whole experience felt like I was in limbo. I lost friends, family, and my dignity."
Karolina and Ben had been in a relationship between March 2018 and February 2019. After the break up, Karolina's friends and family members were followed by an anonymous Instagram account, which posted intimate photos of Karolina - as well as images from porn sites with models' faces cropped out. The images were captioned with words like 'wh*re'.
After alerting a revenge porn charity and the police, Ben was arrested in September 2019. On November 26, 2019, he was sentenced to 25 months in prison after being found guilty on one count of stalking causing serious alarm or distress, which included an offence for disclosing private sexual photographs with intent to cause distress.
He was sentenced in Basildon Crown Court, Essex, and was released on November 5, 2021.
