First woman convicted of revenge porn offence narrowly avoids jail

Paige Mitchell, aged 24, has become the first woman to be convicted under the new revenge porn laws that were brought into effect in April this year.  She had posted four explicit images of her ex-partner, which had been sent to her in the course of their relationship, on Facebook after an argument in May 2015.  Ms Mitchell removed the images when she was told that it was a criminal offence to post them; it is understood that they were online for half an hour.

Ms Mitchell pleaded guilty to assault, having also slapped her victim, and to disclosing private sexual photographs and films with intent to cause distress (an offence under section 33 of the Criminal Justice and Courts Act 2015).  Her victim described how she had been embarrassed to walk down the street as she felt that people may have recognised her from the photographs.

On 1 September 2015, Ms Mitchell was sentenced at Stevenage Magistrates’ Court to a six week jail term for the 'revenge porn' offence and a two week jail sentence for the assault to run concurrently.  The sentence was suspended for 18 months and she was ordered to pay £345 in costs.  The Chairman of the Bench condemned Ms Mitchell’s actions as ‘a highly vindictive invasion of privacy’. In mitigation, Ms Mitchell’s lawyer stated that the couple had reconciled since the incident.

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