PORT GLASGOW MAN SECRETLY TOOK PHOTOS OF NAKED GIRLFRIEND AND UPLOADED THEM ONLINE
A MAN secretly snapped explicit photos of his naked girlfriend as she slept then uploaded them to a pornography website months after they broke up.Gary McKeown left his victim 'absolutely demoralised and completely embarrassed' by his actions, a trial at Greenock Sheriff Court was told.
McKeown, 30, told police he'd done it out of 'emotional anger' because he thought the woman had been cheating on him during their short-lived relationship.
The Port Glasgow man took the photos without her knowledge or consent seven years ago and posted them on a website called X-hamster in mid-2014.
His crime finally caught up with him in May of this year after the woman was told by a third party that a number of images of her in a state of complete undress were on the site.
Prosecutor John Penman told the court: "They were there for the world to see." The woman, 25 — who was 18 when McKeown covertly captured up to six pictures of her — told the court: "They showed my whole body, I had no idea these pictures had been taken." In a text message exchange between them, McKeown, a fitness adviser with Inverclyde Leisure, said: "Honestly, I'm so sorry." He added: "I deeply regret it." The court heard that the woman was aware in 2017 that McKeown had uploaded to the website one topless selfie photo that she'd sent him, but she took no action over that.
However, after finding out about the naked sleeping photos she reported him.
The woman said: "I tried to contact Gary on Facebook and I phoned him a few times.
We spoke on the phone and he admitted it and apologised.
He said it was a joke and I said I'd had enough and I was contacting the police." Asked by fiscal depute Mr Penman how she felt, the woman replied: "Just absolutely demoralised and completely embarrassed." After his arrest McKeown told officers that he'd sent one of the sleeping photos to the woman, stating: "It was a bit of a joke at the time." Asked if it was reasonable for her to assume that only one picture had been taken, he replied: "Yes." He told the court he took the photos following an all-night drinking session, stating: "It was just as a joke to say, 'Look at the state of us'." Asked by defence lawyer Gerry Keenan if he thought the woman would have minded him taking the photos, McKeown replied: "No, because we took pictures of each other before and sent them to each other." Prosecutor Mr Penman put it to McKeown: "Do you think she would have consented if she knew what was going to happen with these pictures?" he replied: "No." Mr Penman said: "She's not laughing about it, is she?" McKeown responded: "No."
