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Thursday, March 14, 2019 Kentish Gazette (KG) www.kentonline.co.uk

A primary school worker whose pictures were repeatedly plastered over adult websites has spoken of her frustration as police admit their investigation into the harassment was flawed.

For 18 months Kirsty Pellant was targeted by online trolls, with images of her appearing on X-rated sites and fake profiles for pornography actresses looking for work.

But those behind the malicious campaign have never been identified, leading to Miss Pellant making an official complaint about how the case was handled by police.

Kent Police has since admitted it missed opportunities early in the investigation, which has now been put on ice.

Miss Pellant, 39, who is head of inclusion and welfare at St John’s Primary School in Canterbury, said: “It’s frustrating that this person will never face the consequences for their actions and be made to confront the issue that they had with me.

“Like all bullies, they should be stopped and made to understand restoratively how their actions have made someone else feel.

“Unfortunately, the police did not enable that to happen for me. I just had no confidence in the investigation, which felt like a tick-box operation.”

The malicious campaign started in 2016, when the first posts and profiles started appearing online. Many included images stolen from Miss Pellant’s Facebook site, while others had her face Photoshopped onto other women’s naked bodies.

As quickly as Miss Pellant was getting them taken down, new ones were appearing, leaving her feeling vulnerable, anxious and embarrassed.

The issue became more unbearable when parents at St John’s started sharing and commenting on the pictures, forcing the school to warn they faced prosecution for malicious communications.

Miss Pellant, who leads fitness classes at DW Sports in Sturry Road, even found herself being contacted by men who believed they had been talking to her.

“I could have been crushed because it has been so upsetting, but I have had to keep fighting,” she said.

Specialists from Kent Police’s Cybercrime Unit discovered those responsible were using encrypting software to conceal their identity.

A subsequent review of the case was carried out by Insp Gurney, who in her summary conceded the investigation had been “one-dimensional”, having been largely computer-based.

She says a number of key lines of inquiries were not initiated until 10 months after the investigation began, with a second victim, witnesses and potential suspects not spoken to.

She concludes: “I consider that the balance of evidence tends to support Miss Pellant’s complaint that the investigation has not been conducted effectively throughout and opportunities were missed early on.”

Miss Pellant says she has been left incredibly frustrated with the police investigation: “I appreciate they have many cases, and perhaps mine was not the most serious when there are others like child abuse which need more urgent attention.

“It’s just very frustrating that I will probably never know who was doing it and why, although I still believe it is someone who knows me, which is quite scary.

“I wonder how they would feel if one of their dear friends or family members suffered what they had put me through.

“The perpetrator decided they would be cowardly, vengeful, sly and malicious. Whatever the intention was, I guess they failed.

“It appears to have stopped, at least for now, which may have been the result of all the publicity.

“The school, governors and local authority have been incredibly supportive, which has helped me enormously.” Thursday, March 14, 2019 Kentish Gazette (KG)

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