PAIGE MITCHELL

WOMAN PROSECUTED UNDER REVENGE PORN LAWS AVOIDS JAIL

Paige Mitchell, aged 24 from Stevenage, became the first woman to be prosecuted under the recently enacted 'revenge porn' legislation.

She uploaded explicit images of her girlfriend to Facebook following a dispute.

The confrontation was triggered after her girlfriend accused her of inspecting other women.

Mitchell was sentenced by Stevenage Magistrates' Court to six weeks in prison, suspended for 18 months.

Additionally, she received a two-week suspended sentence for common assault and was ordered to pay £345 in court costs.

During the hearing, it was revealed that she posted four explicit photographs of her partner on her personal Facebook account, an act magistrate Bette Hindmarsh described as a highly vindictive breach of privacy.

The images were taken down within half an hour after Mitchell’s mother advised her that sharing such material was illegal.

She admitted to one count of assault by beating and one count of sharing private sexual images with the intent to cause distress.

The victim, a mother of one, expressed feeling embarrassed to walk in public due to the incident.

The law criminalizing revenge porn was introduced in April, criminalizing such conduct for the first time.

We are now seeing its application in this first prosecution.