A woman has been awarded almost £100,000 in damages after her former partner covertly recorded her naked and then published the images online.

In what is believed to be the first case of its type to come before the civil courts in England and Wales, Mrs Justice Thornton awarded the woman, who is not named, general damages of £60,000 and special damages of £37,041.61 for consequential financial losses.

Thornton criticised the term 'revenge porn', saying the phrase 'conveys the impression that a victim somehow deserved what happened to them. The description suggested by counsel and used in this judgment, is image-based abuse.'

The claimant found a microscopic camera concealed in the bathroom of the home she lived in with Stuart Gaunt. She also discovered he had uploaded the images onto a pornographic website along with a photo of her face. Gaunt was convicted of voyeurism and other sexual offences in 2020 and received a two-year suspended sentence. He was also ordered to sign the sex offenders register for 10 years.

In FGX v Stuart Gaunt the judge found that the claimant and Gaunt were in a ‘personal and intimate’ relationship and the images, though not of sexual activity, were ‘intimate images'.

Gaunt did not provide any defence to the High Court claim.

Thornton found that ‘the likelihood of the images having been replicated elsewhere’ was high ‘and it would be rare for there to be less than 20 images to view.’ She added that ‘the available evidence indicated the defendant obtained payment for uploading the images.’

As a result of what happened, the claimant suffered from chronic PTSD and is considered ‘one of a minority of cases in which PTSD becomes chronic over several years causing an enduring personality change.’

Though a case that ‘directly’ provided assistance to Thornton in assessing a suitable monetary award for general damages could not be identified, the judge looked to ABC and WH v Willock, the only relevant authority on intentional infliction of harm which counsel was able to identify, Reid v Price, and Bell v Desporte.

She accepted the ‘impacts on the claimant are akin to the impacts of sexual assault…albeit that the abuse…is image based rather than physical'.

Awarding general damages of £60,000, Thornton said: ‘Aggravating features include the needless uploading of a photograph of the claimant’s face onto the pornographic website and the evidence that indicates the defendant obtained payment for the images. A further aggravating feature is the defendant’s failure to participate in these proceedings. His failure to do so has deprived the claimant of the opportunity to obtain information about the extent of publication, which remains a preoccupation for her and a barrier to her recovery.’

 

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