A 39-year-old man, Nicholas Hawkes, has made history as the first person in England and Wales to receive a jail sentence for a cyber-flashing offence. Hawkes, residing in Basildon, Essex, was handed a 66-week sentence after he sent unsolicited pictures of exposed genitals to a woman and a teenage girl.
Pleading guilty to two charges of sending sexually explicit images to cause alarm, distress, or humiliation, Hawkes appeared before the Southend Magistrates’ Court.
The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) introduced new legal provisions to combat various cyber-related offences, including cyber-flashing, sharing ‘deepfake’ nude images, and ‘down-blousing’. The Online Safety Act, passed into law in October of the previous year, criminalizes the act of sending unsolicited genital photos.
Prosecutors assess cases based on their impact on the victims, determining if they felt alarmed, distressed, or humiliated. Additionally, they consider whether the sender aimed to derive sexual gratification from their actions.
Siobhan Blake from the CPS emphasized the importance of protecting women and girls from unwanted sexual images. She encouraged victims of cyberflashing to report such incidents, stressing that it constitutes a serious crime. The CPS is committed to collaborating with law enforcement to prosecute offenders who use technology to harass and abuse victims.
Cyberflashing often occurs in public places, with reports to the British Transport Police nearly doubling in 2020. This form of harassment involves sending unsolicited sexual or nude images via social media or technologies like Bluetooth or AirDrop.
Incidents of cyberflashing, where explicit images are sent without consent, have been on the rise. A survey revealed that 48% of women aged 18-24 reported receiving unsolicited sexual photos.
