Credit: This story was first seen on The Telegraph
A former student at one of Britain’s most prestigious independent schools threatened to publish revenge porn pictures in order to blackmail girls into sleeping with him, The Telegraph reports.
Alistair Wilson, 20, an alumnus of the £30,000-per-year Christ’s Hospital School in Horsham, West Sussex, forced one girl to have sexual intercourse with him or face having explicit pictures of her published on Facebook.
In another instance in August 2015, Wilson also admitted to calling a victim late at night whilst drunk and demanding that she hand over £100 or face the same fate, having obtained nude photos of her during previous “sexting” exchanges.
In extracts taken from conversations Wilson had held with his victims, Lincoln Crown Court heard how he had told one girl: “F— me or I’ll post pictures on Facebook.”
When the girl told Wilson she was “skint” and unable to pay, he again threatened to publish the pictures, causing the girl to hang up.
Prosecuting, Andrew Vout said: “She asked him if he was serious and he made the threat again.
“She said to him that even if she agreed to have sex, how could she get to him? He said that was her problem. He said ‘I want £100 in my bank account by Tuesday.’”
The girl later contacted Wilson and warned him that he was breaking the law, prompting the 20-year-old to apologise.
Mr Vout said that Wilson’s victim had originally found him “charming and funny”, but later found him to be “manipulative”.
“She sent him numerous pictures and videos,” he said. “Over time he persuaded her to send them. He also sent her pictures of himself and a video of himself masturbating.”
When he was asked by one of his victims why he was blackmailing them, Wilson was quoted as saying “sometimes having leverage is useful”.
The girl in question later went on to have sex with Wilson following the exchange.
Police were finally alerted to his activities after his first victim, who was 17 at the time, informed one of her teachers, prompting the school to contact the authorities.
Pleading guilty to blackmail and sending a threatening electronic communication, Wilson was given an eight-month suspended jail sentence and 100 hours of community service.
Recorder Paul Mann QC also ordered him to undertake a rehabilitation programme lasting up to 10 days, and to pay a total of £6,000 in compensation to his two victims.
He was handed a lifetime restraining order banning him from making contact with either girl.
Passing sentence, the recorder said: “This case provides a good example of the dangers the internet poses to young people and how the exchanging of explicit photographs can have unintended consequences.
“Your treatment of these girls has harmed each of them. Each of them has learned a hard lesson about what they send to others on the internet. It is apparent from the character references that the way you behaved online to each of these girls is completely at odds with the way you normally behave.
“I am satisfied that on balance that there is sufficient mitigation for me to stay my hand. You have learned your lesson and you have had repercussions such as the withdrawal for now of your university place. Don’t you dare do this again because to prison you will go.”