Man cleared of uploading image

A MAN has been cleared of changing the profile picture of a student’s email account to an indecent image of herself.

Sergen Dixon, 20, was accused of hacking into a computer at Abertay University and making the change to the woman’s Gmail account in 2018.

The woman, who cannot be named for legal reasons, told a court she felt “sick” after being informed the private image had been uploaded.

The same image was used on the woman’s YouTube account which had thousands of subscribers.

However, Dixon was found not guilty at Dundee Sheriff Court after the university’s network and security specialist said several students could have been responsible.

The court heard the woman, who was running an email server for a family member’s businesses at the time, had been working in one of the computer labs and had accessed her private email account.

Before leaving at around 2pm, she closed the internet tab on the computer but did not shut it down.

She said her Google Drive contained files stretching back over 10 years, which included nude images of herself that she had sent to a former partner.

“Someone tried to email me and realised the image on my Google account was a nude image of myself,” the woman told the court.

“They called me to let me know something had gone awry on my account. I immediately tried to go in and change the image.”

In response to prosecutor Lora Apostolova asking whether or not she was intending on making the image public, the woman said: “Absolutely not. It was many years ago for a former partner. Definitely not for the public’s eyes.”

The student said she felt “sick” after seeing the image, adding that her relationship with her mother broke down as a result of the picture being shared.

Matthew Pollard, 41, the university’s network and security specialist, said despite having access to who was signed onto the network and wifi in the lab, he was unable to determine who exactly would have been responsible.

Dixon, of Shepton Mallett, Somerset, denied using an intimate image of the woman as her profile picture on an email account at Abertay on October 2 2018.

It was alleged he disclosed the picture in order to cause her to suffer fear, alarm or distress.

Dixon was also accused of causing a computer to perform a function with the intent to secure access to a programme or data.

Following Mr Pollard’s evidence, Ms Apostolova said the Crown were no longer seeking a conviction against Dixon.

He was found not guilty by Sheriff Jillian Martin-Brown.

Abertay University