Cyber-flasher sentenced to 66 weeks in prison in legal first
THE first person to be convicted of a cyber-flashing offence has been jailed for 66 weeks.
Nicholas Hawkes was sentenced at Southend Crown Court after sending unsolicited explicit photos to a 15-yearold and a woman. The 39-year-old, from Basildon, Essex, sent the pair pictures of his genitals on Feb 9, the court heard.
Cyber flashing refers to the sending of an unsolicited sexual image to people via social media, dating apps, text message or data sharing services such as Bluetooth and Airdrop.
It became an offence in England and Wales on Jan 31 as part of the Online Safety Act. It has been a crime in Scotland since 2010. Hannah von Dadelszen, deputy chief crown prosecutor for CPS East of England, said: “Cyberflashing is a serious crime which leaves a lasting impact on victims, but all too often it can be dismissed as thoughtless ‘banter’ or a harmless joke.
“Just as those who commit indecent exposure in the physical world can expect to face the consequences, so too should offenders who commit their crimes online; hiding behind a screen does not hide you from the law.
“Using the new legislation, our prosecutors worked to deliver swift justice – securing a guilty plea just four days after Nicholas Hawkes sent disgusting photos to his victims.”
The court heard that on the evening of Feb 9, Hawkes asked to use his father’s phone to call his probation officer. He went into another room where he sent the indecent photo via Whatsapp to a woman in her sixties, using his father’s phone.
Minutes later, on the same device, he sent an explicit image to the child over imessage, who was said to have been left “overwhelmed and crying”.
Prosecuting, David Barr said the offences were “part of an established pattern of behaviour of the defendant”. The court heard Hawkes’ offending has been exclusively sexual in nature and started after he was kidnapped, stabbed and held at ransom for £5,000 when he was 31 years old.
On May 12 last year Hawkes went to Long Riding Surgery in Basildon and stripped off. He then rubbed hand sanitiser on his genitals and walked around the foyer for five minutes.
Then on July 23, he approached a group of young people in Mopsies Park, Basildon while wearing only his trainers and engaged in a “sexual conversation” with the victims and “kissed one girl and hugged another”.
Hawkes was spared jail for those incidents,
blaming the incidents on his PTSD and heavy cocaine use, denying a sexual attraction to children.
Judge Samantha Leigh said: “You clearly are deeply disturbed and have a warped view of yourself and your sexual desires. There is a duty that I have that is a duty to protect, there is only one sentence for this set of offending – it clearly crosses the custody threshold.”
Hawkes was already a registered sex offender, and will remain so until November 2033, after he was convicted of sexual activity with a child under 16 and exposure at Basildon Crown Court last year. Yesterday he pleaded guilty to breaching a community order and breaching a suspended sentence for another sexual offence.