.jpg?width=1200&width=1200&auto=webp&quality=75 "Stephen Bear advised to pay £207,000 to Georgia Harrison over intercourse video")
Stephen Bear advised to pay £207,000 to Georgia Harrison over intercourse video
D
isgraced reality TV persona Stephen Bear has been ordered to pay greater than £200,000 in damages to ex-girlfriend Georgia Harrison for leaking a intercourse tape on-line in a “gross invasion of privacy”.
Bear, 33, is at present serving a 21-month jail sentence for secretly filming a sexual encounter on CCTV in his backyard after which intentionally sharing the footage on-line for revenue.
The former actuality TV star despatched the video to buddies regardless of Ms Harrison’s pleas that it’s deleted, he then uploaded it to an OnlyFans account and subsequently it “went global” by being copied and posted on porn web sites, the High Court heard.
She advised civil proceedings the leak of the intercourse tape was her “worst nightmare” and left her feeling “violated and used”.
In a ruling on Wednesday, Master Victoria McCloud ordered Bear to pay £207,900 in damages to Harrison for a leak on a “grand scale”, in one of many highest ever payouts in breach of privateness circumstances.
“This is a case where the term ‘revenge porn’ is sometimes used, it’s a colourful term for the media”, stated the choose.
“This is a gross act of violation by a man towards a woman through the medium of the internet. A more appropriate term is ‘image based abuse’.
Georgia Harrison joined a demonstration organised by Refuge outside the Houses of Parliament (Stefan Rousseau/PA)
/ PA Wire“Pornography is generally actually something done consensually. It was consensual sex but it certainly wasn’t consensual filming, and it was deeply violating.”
The choose added that Bear had “gaslighted” Ms Harrison by making an attempt to faux she was herself liable for posting the video on-line, he has largely ignored civil courtroom proceedings, and seems to have used the incident as a springboard to launch a porn profession within the months earlier than he was jailed.
Ms Harrison’s barrister Gervase de Wilde additionally advised the courtroom that Bear – whereas shunning the authorized proceedings – seems in the previous few days to have tried to promote a property below his management via an organization promising a “quick sale”.
“It seems he is following the media coverage and has acted on the media coverage”, he stated. “The defendant has been completely unrepentant, there’s no apology, and he has not offered assurances about the video and dealings with it in the future. He is completely brazen, even in the face of his conviction.
TV personality Georgia Harrison has said she developed cysts and later went into septic shock after becoming a victim of revenge porn (Joe Giddens/PA)
/ PA Wire“The only activity he had undertaken is to attempt to dissipate assets, being more focused on the consequences of this claim than actually engaging with the substance.”
Reacting to the ruling, Ms Harrison thanked authorized agency Payne Hicks Beach for supporting her via civil proceedings, saying: “They have been true heroes on my journey to justice, and I will forever be in awe of how talented they are.
“Once I officially receive the settlement sum, I will be donating part of it to multiple charities that have helped support me and other victims of image-based sexual abuse.”
Bear was convicted in March after a felony trial on costs of voyeurism and disclosing non-public, sexual images.
The courtroom heard he had consensual intercourse with Ms Harrison on August 2, 2020, in part of his dwelling he knew can be in view of the CCTV cameras.
When he later advised her in regards to the footage, Ms Harrison requested for the movie to be deleted however grew to become conscious that Bear had as an alternative shared it with buddies.
The footage was posted to OnlyFollowers on November 8, 2020 and Bear later boasted that he had made £72,000 from subscribers because of this.
The clip ended up on X-rated web sites together with pornhub, as Ms Harrison reported Bear to the police and her mom engaged the companies of an moral hacker to tried to wipe it on-line.
Reality TV star Stephen Bear arrives at Chelmsford Crown Court to be sentenced (Joe Giddens/PA)
/ PA Wire“This case is the most serious single infringement of privacy rights that has ever come before this court by way of a damages claim”, stated barrister Gervase de Wilde, representing Ms Harrison.
“The video had enormous circulation, global circulation.”
He put ahead proof of “publication on an absolutely vast scale”, and stated the hacker employed by the Harrison household concluded the video had been shared too broadly to ever be efficiently wiped.
Ms Harrison, a former star of exhibits together with The Only Way Is Essex, Love Island and Olivia Meets Her Match, advised the courtroom she felt “completely and utterly exploited, like he had hung me up naked on a wall for millions of people to see and there was nothing I could do about it”.
She advised the courtroom her life “changed forever”, she felt “violated and used”, and that she misplaced her “sense of self-respect and personal dignity”.
Ms Harrison stated she endured a way of concern within the months when she knew the video existed however Bear had not but put it on-line.
“I never wanted to sell sexual content such as pictures and videos of me online”, she stated. “I know I could have made a lot of money. I will never recover from the way Stephen Bear took that decision out of my hands.”
She added that she believes Bear launched a porn profession on the again of the video leak, making but extra revenue from the breach of her privateness.
Master McCloud imposed an injunction on Bear at at present’s listening to, stopping him from utilizing the footage once more.
The choose stated the payout to Ms Harrison is larger than compensation awarded to the late F1 tycoon Max Mosley following the publication in a newspaper of pictures of a sadomasochistic orgy.
She stated the legislation because it at present stands prevented her from awarding “punitive damages” for Bear’s actions or extending compensation to incorporate the restoration of earnings he constituted of the video.
“That’s not something I have the power to do”, she stated, whereas referencing the Online Harms Bill which continues to be being debated in Parliament.
Hanna Basha, who labored with Nick Grant on the case from Payne Hicks Beach’s Privacy and Media Team stated: “This has been a difficult, complicated and emotional case. I am pleased that we were able to support Georgia, and I hope her strength in pursuing this highlights to other victims that there is help and support available for them and that the courts take these matters very seriously.”