'City worker put fake porn snaps online of woman who spurned him'
A HIGH-FLYING financial worker created fake pornographic pictures of a colleague and posted them online after she spurned him, a court heard yesterday.
By David Pilditch
PUBLISHED: 00:01, Sat, Oct 21, 2017 | UPDATED: 08:58, Sat, Oct 21, 2017
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Davide Buccheri is accused of carrying out an eight-month harassment campaign
Davide Buccheri, 25, is accused of carrying out an eight-month harassment campaign while working at a top City of London investment management firm.
He allegedly used social media images of the woman to mock up the images which he loaded on to adult websites.
Buccheri is said to have edited pornographic photographs of women of similar appearance to the alleged victim.
City of London magistrates heard Buccheri used the pseudonym "Flying Gerbil" to post the images in April this year.
Tony Sapiano
Davide allegedly used social media images woman to mock up the images he loaded on to an adult site
Distress Buccheri and the alleged victim both worked at M&G Investments, in the City.
Buccheri, a fund manager assistant, is accused of alerting the firm's human resources department to the pictures in an attempt "to discredit her and cause her distress and anxiety".
It was part of a "planned and sophisticated" campaign of harassment, it is claimed.
Bespectacled Buccheri, from Bologna, Italy, denied harassment when he appeared in court yesterday.
He spoke only to confirm his name, age and address and to enter his not guilty plea.
The alleged harassment is said to have taken place between September 9 last year and May 29. Sonya Foxsmith, prosecuting, said: "The complainant in this case was initially an intern with M&G.
Davide was freed on bail on condition he does not contact the alleged victim
During this time she met Mr Buccheri, who worked at the firm. He made romantic advances toward her, which were rejected.
"Following that, she made a complaint to the HR department in relation to that conduct."
Ms Foxsmith said there was then a gap in her employment with the company.
She left and then returned earlier this year when she was offered a postgraduate position.
Ms Foxsmith said over six days in April, Buccheri uploaded a number of images of the woman and pornographic images of other females of similar build, which he had obtained from the internet.
He is alleged to have "edited and cropped" the images to make them look like the alleged victim.
Ms Foxsmith said Buccheri placed the doctored photos on an X-rated website alongside genuine images of the woman.
She said: "These images were then revealed to the company's HR department by Mr Buccheri by the whistleblowing procedure available."
When the woman was alerted to the images, police were called. Officers seized computer equipment from Buccheri, including a laptop, the court was told.
Buccheri, who has a masters degree from the London School of Economics, was freed on bail on condition he does not contact the alleged victim or anyone who works at M&G until a trial on December 21.
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