A Merseyside man has been convicted of sending a revenge porn photograph to his ex-partner's mother.
Barry McLaren, 48, of Howell Drive, Greasby, admitted one charge of disclosing a private sexual photograph when he appeared at Liverpool Magistrates' Court on Friday, 10th July 2020.
This is an offence under section 33(1) of the Criminal Justice and Courts Act 2015. The maximum penalty is 2 years' custody and/or an unlimited fine on conviction on indictment; 26 weeks' custody and/or an unlimited fine on summary conviction.
The court heard that McLaren, a former soldier, sent a bondage photograph of his naked ex-partner to her mother after the pair split in January 2019.
McLaren moved out of the couple's shared home, but remained in contact with the woman because of their jointly owned pet dogs. However, he became inappropriate and angry towards his victim, reaping revenge by sharing the revealing image with her mother.
Prosecutor Angela Conlan told the court that McLaren sent a copy of the image to the victim's mobile phone on 14th August 2019. She recognised it as one that had been taken three years earlier, but felt "completely shocked" and "sick" because she believed McLaren had earlier deleted it.
McLaren threatened the woman that if she didn't stop getting post delivered to his mother's house, he would "talk to her mum".
The victim then heard from her own mother, who said someone had sent a naked photo claiming it was her daughter. On seeing the image, the victim immediately recognised it as the one taken by McLaren.
The victim notified police of the photograph, telling officers McLaren was "completely controlling" when they were together.
Speaking in a victim impact statement, the victim's mother said she was "disgusted" and "shocked through and through" at receiving the image and an accompanying message saying it was her daughter.
John Brown, mitigating, suggested to District Judge Paul Healy that the offence was one of lower culpability given McLaren's personal mitigation.
"He suffered mental and physical scars and had to leave [the Army] because of injuries. He still has scars on the back of his legs from shoot outs", Mr Brown said.
Mr Brown told the court that McLaren is currently receiving support from the Royal British Legion and is remorseful for his actions, which he pleaded guilty to at the earliest opportunity.
Judge Healey said that to send such a picture to the victim's mother was a "particularly unpleasant and cruel thing to do."
He accepted the prompt guilty plea and that there were no similar previous convictions.
He said: "This offence involved intention to cause distress and humiliation to the victim and that's clear here."
McLaren was sentenced to 8 weeks in custody suspended for 18 months, with the requirement that he completes the Building Better Relationships programme and 180 hours of unpaid work.
He was also ordered to pay £85 towards prosecution costs and £90 victim surcharge.
A restraining order was made prohibiting McLaren from contacting the victim by any means whatsoever for an indefinite period.
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