MAIDSTONE MAN AVOIDS JAIL ‘BY THE WIDTH OF A CIGARETTE PAPER’ AFTER THREATENING TO POST INTIMATE IMAGE OF EX-PARTNER ON FACEBOOK
A 67-year-old who threatened to post sexual images of a woman he once had relations with on Facebook has been told he avoided a jail sentence “by the width of a cigarette paper”.During a sentencing hearing at Maidstone Crown Court on Tuesday (September 30), prosecutor Alexa Le Moine detailed how Reader had started a relationship with a woman he met online in 2023, but which ended a few months later.
In July last year, Reader, who now lives in Germany, told the woman he still had feelings for her but they were not reciprocated.
In September of the same year, he sent his victim several messages, including one which read: “Do you mind if I post that photo of you doing that to me on Facebook?” When the woman said “no”, Reader, from Maidstone, threatened to “ruin her” and sent her a video where he made threats to post the photo online.
He was arrested and charged with threatening to share a private sexual image and harassment with intent to cause alarm or distress.
He admitted the first charge and denied the second, but the second was ordered to lie on the file by the judge.
“What you did was the worst form of online bullying…” Ms Le Moine told the court how Reader’s messages caused “great upset and fear” for his victim, and the threats to share the image was “extremely upsetting”.
She added that Reader had 22 previous convictions for 34 offences, including kidnap and assault causing actual bodily harm (ABH) in 2004.
Defence barrister Nadia-Jade Semlali said Reader was “extremely remorseful and ashamed” of his actions.
She urged the Recorder to take into consideration a pre-sentence report recommendation of 25 rehabilitation activity requirement sessions which he would need to travel to and from Germany to complete.
When his defence counsel was asked by Recorder Edmund Burge KC how he could afford this due to his “limited means”, Reader chimed in to say his Ryanair flights were “only £9.99 each way”.
Addressing Reader, Recorder Burge said: “You threatened to put an image where anyone could see it, which would have caused her extraordinary embarrassment and distress.
“What you did was the worst form of online bullying.” Recorder Burge handed Reader a 12-month prison sentence, suspended for a year, adding: “You have come within a cigarette paper’s width of going inside today.” He explained that Reader was given the suspended sentence due to his age, health and because he had not been in trouble for more than two decades.
When told he must pay his victim £500 in compensation, over a two-year period, Reader expressed that he would struggle to pay due to his limited means, to which the judge responded: “You should have thought of that before you did what you did.” Reader exclaimed: “Well, I’ll have to starve then.”
