A French woman who terrorised a couple after posing as a man on a gay dating app was today jailed for 13 months.
Yannick Glaudin, 31, stalked the man and his then boyfriend – sending their families, friends and colleagues the intimate pictures and films using a number of fake identities, Inner London Crown Court heard.
She warned the man she had put ‘a price’ on him and that she wanted him castrated, before sending intimate photos and videos of him to his family, employer and friends.
Police or Crimestoppers were contacted on multiple occasions over false claims, including of assault and paedophilia, against one man, while friends were warned he had a bounty on his head.
Glaudin, who admitted her crimes but had evaded justice for over a year after fleeing to France, was sentenced to 13 months in prison at Inner London Crown Court on Monday.
Yannick Glaudin (seen here on cctv on the London underground) posed as a man on gay dating app Grindr
In mitigation, her lawyer said shew as depressed at the time but gave no motive for her actions.
Sentencing, Judge Silas Reid said Glaudin was driven by ‘revenge’ after her initial victim broke off contact, describing her behaviour as ‘designed to cause maximum upset’.
Prosecutor John McNamara told the court that in May 2017 Glaudin, using the pseudonym Steven St Pier, met her first male victim over the Grindr app.
The pair exchanged phone numbers, email addresses and even the victim’s CV as he was job-hunting.
‘During the period of contact, (the victim) sent to the defendant a number of intimate and personal pictures and videos,’ Mr McNamara said.
But the victim had doubts over Glaudin’s true identity and ended their online-only contact in December 2017.
This triggered months of harassment by Glaudin, beginning with her sending the sexual images to the victim’s stepfather, his friends, and even friends of friends.
Glaudin, who worked as a construction draftsman and chef, escalated the harassment from February 2018 when her victim started a new relationship with another man.
The now ex-boyfriend’s friends were contacted by Glaudin, using pseudonyms such as Harry Wars and Nick Guel on Facebook and Instagram, making false allegations about him.
In March 2018, a false report was made to Crimestoppers claiming the boyfriend was ‘abusing a young boy and was linked to a known prostitute’, Mr McNamara said.
On another date, a fake report was made to police pretending to be from a victim’s boss, ‘stating that he had seen videos of underage sex on a laptop’.
Yannick Glaudin, 31, stalked the man and his then boyfriend. (Glaudin seen here on cctv on the London underground)
Other messages sent suggested there was ‘a price’ on the boyfriend’s head of 1,000 euros in Barcelona and London, the court was told.
Photos of the first victim using the London underground were also sent to him over email.
Meanwhile, several men ‘looking for sex’ tried to visit their then shared flat after being in contact with someone using the first victim’s name.
Speaking in court, the former boyfriend said the experience had been ‘hell on earth’.
‘I suffered the extreme shock of constant, insidious daily harassment at home, work and on every online channel I was registered on, by someone completely anonymous, using multiple aliases,’ he said.
He added: ‘The perpetrator has accused me personally of being a paedophile, impersonated me and my partner online via dating applications, sent multiple strangers to my home demanding anonymous sex, followed me… home, and taken photographs of our front door and taunted us about it.’
The court heard that after pleading guilty to her offences in July 2018, Glaudin fled to France, with a European arrest warrant later issued.
She was extradited in January, with Metropolitan police officers travelling across the Channel to bring her into custody.
She sent their families, friends and colleagues the intimate pictures and films using a number of fake identities, Inner London Crown Court heard
Representing Glaudin, Ricky Yau said she returned to France to see two terminally ill relatives.
Mr Yau said she believed: ‘What I’ve done to them is nasty, cruel and stupid and I regret it.’
Sentencing, Judge Reid questioned why Glaudin had not faced more serious charges than those put by the prosecution.
‘It’s difficult to understand why you did what you did other than that during the period of your offending you were consumed by jealousy and a desire for revenge,’ he told Glaudin.
He said her ‘disturbing campaign of harassment’ saw her ignore pleas from her victims to stop and use fake social media accounts to ‘inveigle’ her way into their circle of friends to track their lives.
Glaudin, who has no previous convictions, claimed she was depressed at the time of the offences, but no motive was advanced for her behaviour.
While on the run she saw a psychiatrist in France who did not reach any specific conclusions about her mental state.
Glaudin was also made subject of a restraining order banning her from contacting the victims or their friends.
Kathryn Iyer, from the CPS, said: ‘This was a sustained and frightening campaign of harassment mounted against an innocent young couple. They implored Glaudin to stop stalking and harassing them, but she continued anyway. She even followed one victim home on the underground and later sent him photos of himself on the journey, causing him distress.
‘Glaudin was a stranger having never personally met either of these men. But she was relentless in her pursuit, particularly with the use of social media, which led these victims to take down their social media accounts.
‘The CPS takes stalking and harassment extremely seriously and will prosecute perpetrators where there is evidence to do so.’
Glaudin, who has no previous convictions, was sentenced to 12 months for a charge of disclosing private sexual photos and films with intent to cause distress, four months for one count of harassment without violence and four months for one of stalking without fear, alarm or distress.
These will be served concurrently, with a further one month sentence for breaching bail to be served consecutively.
Glaudin is also subject to a lifelong restraining order preventing her contacting her victims and other individuals.