Georgia Harrison thanks Essex Police following conclusion of hearing

An investigation by our Proceeds of Crime Team, part of the Economic Crime Unit, has concluded, after a man who was found guilty of revenge porn offences being ordered to pay back over £27,000.

Stephen Henry Bear, 34, from London appeared at Chelmsford Crown Court on Thursday, 28 March for the hearing, drawing a close to a three- and half-year investigation by Essex Police. 

Stephen Bear had previously been found guilty of voyeurism, disclosing private sexual images without consent and breach of bail conditions.

Bear had posted an explicit video of his former partner, Georgia Harrison onto his Only Fans account. Georgia Harrison was unaware that the video had been filmed and then publicly shared.

Following his conviction and after he was issued a 21-month prison sentence, an investigation was launched by Financial Investigators within our Proceeds of Crime Team to establish how much Bear made from his criminality.

OnlyFans is a platform where an individuals account can run off monthly subscriptions, pay per view media, pay per view live streams and tips. Those who sell their content receive 80% of the revenue.

Enquiries showed that Stephen Bear’s account posted the video and then alerted all subscribers to the video so that it could be viewed by any of his 1061 subscribers who paid $9.99 to view it. 273 subscribers paid this meaning that following the conversion rate and a 20% reduction, the total Bear had profited from directly the video was £1,650.98. 

Further enquiries by Financial Investigator Laura Mackenzie revealed that Bear had made several changes to his subscription fee. These ranged between $7.50 and $50. It was believed that Bear had made these changes to financially benefit even further from the interest that the video had generated on social media. 

Concluding a hearing on Friday, 26 January, Judge Christopher Morgan agreed with the case put forward by FI Laura Mackenzie, and the Crown Prosecution Service, and agreed Bear generated £22,305.46 by sharing the private material.

Today’s hearing concluded with the judge ordering Bear to pay £22,305 as a confiscation payment and £5000 as direct compensation to Georgia Harrison. He has been given three months to pay this.

In a statement, Georgia Harrison said

“I’m really grateful to the CPS and Essex police for all their hard work to ensure the confiscation order was enforced today and to the court for awarding me the money earned by the defendant from the proceeds of crime.
"Nobody has the right to earn money from any crime,  but to earn so much from image based sexual abuse is abhorrent.
“I think it’s important that anyone who commits this awful crime,  should be made  to give any money they made to the victim after a successful conviction.
“I will be giving some of the money to charities of my choice who have supported me throughout this ordeal and I just want to thank Essex police force and Judge Christopher Morgan for once again ensuring that justice is served.
“I also think this is a clear example of why it is so important to report these sorts of crimes to the police. They’re there to help you , so let them”.

Detective Chief Inspector Ashley Howard, Head of Economic and Cyber Crime at Essex Police said

“The way in which Bear financially benefitted from the trauma he put Georgia Harrison through is greedy, immoral and despicable.
“Due to Bear and Georgia Harrison being in the public eye, the video was generating more interest on social media and Bear used this to attract people to his Only Fans account and financially benefit.
“FI Laura Mackenzie conducted extensive, detailed enquiries, and it was determined that Bear had earned thousands from his crime. Our Proceeds of Crime Team are skilled financial investigators that use their specialist training to take the benefit out of criminal activity.
“No amount of money can put a price on the impact that this whole ordeal has had on Georgia. But I hope this proves that we will go above and beyond, past the point of conviction in order to get justice for victims.”

Sharing private sexual images and/or videos of anyone without their permission is against the law. 

Please consider your actions and help us break the cycle of abuse #Reflect