English court jails first offender for cyber-flashing
A court in eastern England on Tuesday became the first in the country to jail someone for a new cyber-flashing offence, sentencing a convicted sex offender to 66 weeks in prison. A judge at Southend Crown Court handed Nicholas Hawkes, 39, the jail term after he previously admitted to the newly designated offence at an earlier appearance. Cyber-flashing, which can involve offenders sending people an unsolicited sexual image on social media, dating apps or by other electronic communication, became a crime in England and Wales on January 31. It was part of the government's Online Safety Act. Hawkes, from Basildon, east of London, pleaded guilty to two counts of sending a photograph or film of genitals to cause alarm, distress or humiliation. He had admitted the latest offences of sending unsolicited images to a 15-year-old girl and a woman on February 9. The woman took screenshots of the photograph on WhatsApp and reported him to police the same day. Hawkes was already on the sex offenders register after a conviction last year of sexual activity with a child under 16 years old and indecent exposure, for which he also received a community order. On Tuesday he also pleaded guilty to breaching that order and breaching a suspended sentence for another sexual offence. Victims of the new cyber-flashing offence and other image-based abuses have lifelong anonymity from the moment they report it under the Sexual Offences Act. (AFP)