A revenge porn victim is using the £100,000 in damages she was awarded to contract a specialist company to remove the material of her from the internet.
The unnamed woman won a landmark case at the High Court last month in which the judge ruled she had been a victim of ‘image based abuse’.
This was the first reported civil judgement of its kind after her former partner was found to have used hidden cameras to upload images to her on porn sites.
The High Court ruled last month that Stuart Gaunt, 57, would have to pay £100,000 in compensation to her, in what is thought to be a legal first.
Speaking out for the first time, she said she is using the money in the landmark case to try and wipe the images of her from the internet so she could be a ‘beacon of hope’ for other revenge porn victims.
Stuart Gaunt was later convicted of voyeurism in September 2020 and received a two-year suspended jail sentence (file image)
The court heard last month how Gaunt had set up microscopic cameras in her bathroom to covertly film her while she was naked. He would then upload the images on to a pornographic website next to a photograph of her face so she could be recognised.
Speaking about the case for the first time, the woman, 48, told The Times, how she had been in love with Gaunt, sharing the same bed and home with him before realising her horror situation.
She told the publication she met Gaunt on Tinder in 2016, describing him as ‘debonair’ and ‘a catch’.
The two moved in together after a couple of months, but she told him she wanted to remain from sex until marriage due to her Christian faith.
One day, in October 2017, she walked past his computer screen, seeing a black dog, but clicked play on the video which was indecent footage of a child.
She said she then went through his computer, scanning Gaunt’s hard drives. It was at this point that she discovered footage of herself.
The woman said she discovered images that showed her sleeping with no clothes on, a clip of her in the shower, and of her cleaning the bathroom.
She subsequently alerted police who found the microscopic cameras.
Gaunt was later convicted of voyeurism in September 2020 and received a two-year suspended jail sentence.
But despite the conviction, the woman detailed how it did not prevent her images still being online.
‘I sit on trains and look around and worry that someone has seen the video’, she told The Times.
The unnamed woman won a landmark case at the High Court last month in which the judge ruled she had been a victim of ‘image based abuse’ (file image)
High Court judge Mrs Justice Thornton ruled last month that the woman should be awarded £97,041, citing PTSD resulting in an ‘enduring personality change’ as a result of Gaunt’s actions.
In the ruling Mrs Justice Thornton also criticised the term revenge porn, highlighting that it ‘conveys the impression that a victim somehow deserved what happened to them.
The court has since instructed reputation management company Igniyte to remove the footage of the woman.
It will scan the internet for the material and for any copies of the footage. As the woman does not own the copyright to the footage, the court ruling can be cited that proves voyerism and image based sexual abuse. The total will likely take around six months.
But the woman added: ‘Sadly it won’t ever be over. The fear is constantly there, that there is material stored somewhere I don’t know about.’
In last month’s landmark ruling, the victim detailed how she had been diagnosed with anxiety and depression as well as PTSD following the horrific revelations.
She told the court: ‘I have become like a recluse. I am managing to work but only because I am allowed to work from home.
‘I am reluctant to ever leave home and find any excuse not to go out. I have tried to overcome this, but find it impossible. I tend to do all my shopping online.
‘I have real trust issues. I cannot trust people. When I have travelled, I become paranoid about cameras being hidden and filming me. I will look everywhere to try and find cameras – in air conditioning grates and behind seats.’
She added: ‘I will not try on clothes in a shop because of a fear that I am being filmed. The fear does not leave you and is constantly there. I am always worried that somebody is watching me that I do not know about.
‘I still have nightmares about what happened. I wake up in a sweat. I have completely come off social media. It is a self-protection thing.’
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