‘Cyber-flasher’ jailed in England for first time — RT World News

Convicted child sex offender Nicholas Hawkes became the first person to be jailed for “cyber-flashing” in England and Wales when he was sentenced to more than a year in prison on Tuesday. This comes after a new set of laws came into force earlier this year in an attempt to crack down on anti-social content and behavior online.

Cyberflashing is sending unsolicited sexual images to another person via online platforms such as social media or messaging apps. The act became a criminal offense in England and Wales under the Online Safety Act on 31 January. In Scotland, the act has been a crime for more than a decade.

Hawkes – who has already been convicted of engaging in sexual activity with and exposure to a child under the age of 16 – pleaded guilty to two counts of sending a picture or film of his genitals to cause alarm, distress or humiliation.

In February, he borrowed his father's phone on the pretext of calling his parole officer, and took and sent two photos of his genitals, one of a 15-year-old girl, the other of a 60-year-old woman. The last one took a screenshot. She informed the police.

Judge Samantha Lee sentenced Hawkes to 66 weeks in prison, finding that the two charges were additive to his breach of previous court orders. She called him A “unhinged” man with a “A distorted view of himself and his sexuality.”

The Online Safety Act targets activities such as child sexual abuse, revenge pornography, hate speech, terrorism, and posts that promote self-harm. It places responsibility for deleting content on the companies that own the platforms on which it is published. Businesses whose services are accessed by UK users that fail to comply will face fines of up to £18 million ($22.9 million), or 10% of the eligible company's worldwide revenue, whichever is greater. Communications regulator OFCOM is charged with enforcing the law.

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