Son ‘helped mum to send revenge porn to ex’s father’

A23-YEAR-OLD man shared with his mother explicit photos and a video of his ex-girlfriend for his mother to send to the father of his former partner to cause her distress, a court has heard.

Matthew Cooper-Collyer, of Monkton Green, Monkton Deverill, Wiltshire, is on trial at Winchester Crown Court accused of threatening to disclose private sexual photos with the intent of causing distress.

His mother, Lynda Cooper, 41, of the same address, has previously pleaded guilty to the same charge as well as a second offence of malicious communications after sending the images.

Helen Easterbrook, prosecuting, told the court that the defendant had recently split up with his girlfriend when his mother suggested in a Facebook conversation that he send images to her.

Cooper had also posted “Happy Birthday” followed by the initials of the victim.

Ms Easterbrook said Cooper had written that she would “give her drama like she loves” and referring to the images she added: “Love them, perfect shots, you should have been a photographer.”

The prosecutor said Cooper-Collyer shared two intimate photos and a video with his mother who then sent them to the father of the defendant’s ex-girlfriend on the day before the victim’s birthday.

She said the father “checked his mobile phone and found he had received two photos and a video which showed his daughter in sexually explicit poses”.

Ms Easterbrook said: “The allegation is Mr Cooper-Collyer has shared these photos and video, they were of a private nature.

“He did it without her permission and when he did it, he did it not by accident but intending that it would upset her, and it would cause her distress.”

In police interview, Cooper-Collyer said his mother had access to his phone and had sent the images without his permission.

He said: “I left my phone for five minutes to go to the toilet, when I got my phone these pictures had been sent and I questioned her.

“I said ‘Why did you do this?’ She was annoyed, she said she (the victim) was going to ruin my life with things I hadn’t done, she (Ms Collyer) said ‘If she is going to do it to him, I am going to do it to her’.”

Giving evidence in court, CooperCollyer denied sending anyone private sexual photos or videos.

He said that in the Facebook conversation, he had posted that he had sent them but he told the court he had not done so.

He said: “She has got bipolar disease and she can be very difficult to come to terms with and talk to if she is having a bad day, which she was, sometimes it’s easier to agree to a certain extent, to keep her quiet.”

Cooper-Collyer added: “I know the extent of what revenge porn does so I would never myself put someone through that.”

Giving evidence, Cooper said she took the images from her son’s phone without his permission and added: “He is innocent through this whole thing.

“He didn’t agree to any of the pictures.”

The trial continues.