An Angus teenager who set up a “revenge porn” Facebook page to hurt his girlfriend after she admitted cheating on him has avoided a custodial sentence.
In what a sheriff condemned as an “outrageous and extremely unpleasant” incident, the then 18-year-old posted intimate pictures the girl had shared with him when they were together.
He quickly thought better of his seedy actions and removed the photos, but not before school friends of the 16-year-old victim had seen the images and told her about the deceitful act.
The accused who cannot be named to protect the identity of his victim also escaped being made the subject of sex offender notification after the sheriff was told the offence had been “100%” driven by revenge and not sexual gratification.
Forfar Sheriff Court heard the girl was extremely distressed when she was told at school about the Facebook page and reported it to police.
The accused made a full admission when confronted by officers and although he had 15 pictures of the girl in his possession they were unable to ascertain how many had been posted before the content was removed.
Defence solicitor Nick Markowski said his client, now 19, had been sent the pictures during the course of their relationship but had become angry when the girl sent him a text saying she had been unfaithful.
“His motivation was anger and revenge. He is not normally the sort of person who would come to the attention of the authorities.
“He selected two pictures out of 15 and I understand they were perhaps what would be described as being at the tamer end of the pictures he had.
“He is almost regretting it as he is doing it and took it down immediately but it was seen by a couple of her friends and it is not something he is proud of at all he is shame-faced about it.
“There is a level of immaturity about it. I don’t expect the court will see a lot of him and hopefully he can put this behind him.
“He did reasonably well at school and is hoping to gain employment following an interview,” added Mr Markowski.
Sheriff Pino Di Emidio said the teenager’s actions had required some thought, adding: “It was an extremely unpleasant thing to do an outrageous and disgraceful thing to do.
“You behaved in a way which can only be said to be deeply unpleasant and no doubt caused considerable distress. You also put up a very unpleasant remark, perhaps consistent with a vengeful attitude.”
The sheriff imposed a one-year Community Payback Order, including 120 hours of unpaid work.