Man’s intimate photos threat
A MAN ‘caused long-term psychological damage’ to a woman after threatening to send intimate photos and a video to her parents.
Luke Scott messaged the threats to the woman telling her that her parents “might like to see who you really are”.
At the time, she was about to board a plane and she said she was distraught at being “powerless” over what he did and a lack of phone signal meant she’d have no information for hours.
In angry messages, the 29-year-old verbally abused and threatened to share the intimate photos and video that she had sent to him. The private photos and video were never shared. On Tuesday,
Teesside Crown Court also heard details of Scott’s assault on a woman on a separate occasion.
Jonathan Gittins, prosecuting, said that Scott and the woman became embroiled in an argument in Scott’s car, and he grabbed the woman’s collar, “opened the car door and pushed her out”.
He then chased her down a street and tried to grab her to push her back in the car. When Scott became aware that other people on the street were watching him, he stopped, the Middlesbrough court heard. The woman was left with a bruised elbow.
In a statement read out to the court, the woman said that Scott’s actions “continue to cause long-term psychological damage to me”.
Scott, of Buttercup Close in Hartlepool, pleaded guilty to assault and threatening to disclose private photographs.
In mitigation, Andrew Bousfield told the court that Scott “accepts his actions have been inappropriate”.
“There’s no excuse for pushing her out of the car,” he said. “It was a stationary vehicle at the time – to make that clear – and she was on her way out at the time.”
On the private photos charge, Mr Bousfield added: “The images and video were never sent. The threats were empty words said in the heat of the moment.”
Scott was handed a twoyear community order, and must attend a course of building relationships; as well as 15 rehabilitation days. He was made the subject of a restraining order, prohibiting him from contacting his victim.