A convicted sex offender has become the first to be jailed for cyber-flashing crimes under new laws, after he sent non-consensual images of his genitals to two victims. Nicholas Hawkes, 39, was arrested after Essex
police received a report that a 15-year-old girl and a woman had been sent explicit images of his erect penis over
WhatsApp. Following an investigation, he was charged and later pleaded guilty to two counts of sending a photograph of film of genitals to cause alarm or distress or humiliation and has been jailed for 66 weeks. Southend Crown Court heard that Hawkes had sent the images shortly after receiving a call from a probation officer while staying at his father’s house. The teenager girl was said to be left distressed and “crying” by the nude image, with Hawkes making full admission to police officers upon his arrest. Have you been affected by cyber-flashing? Email holly.evans@independent.co.uk These offences formed “part of an established pattern of behaviour” given that he was already a registered sex offender after he was convicted and given a community order for sexual activity with a child and exposure last year. Cyber-flashing became an offence in
England and Wales on 31 January as part of the Online Safety Act, with perpetrators facing a maximum sentence of two years in
prison. The crime often includes offenders sending an unsolicited sexual image to people via dating apps,
Social Media, Bluetooth or Airdrop. Often victims are shown a preview on their device, meaning that even if the transfer is rejected, they are still subjected to seeing the image. Guidance has now been issued for the criminal offence, which follows similar recent action to criminalise upskirting and breastfeeding voyeurism. Sefer Mani, from CPS East of England, said: “Cyber-flashing is a grotesque crime and the fact we were able to deliver swift justice for the two victims shows the new law is working. “Everyone should feel safe wherever they are and not be subjected to receiving unwanted sexual images. “I urge anyone who feels they have been a victim of cyber-flashing to report it to the police and know that they will be taken seriously and have their identities protected.” More follows on this
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