A court heard of how a 28-year-old businesswoman caused her boyfriend's ex-lover to attempt suicide after she posted pornographic images of the two on her Instagram page. Rachel Dale had found the photos on her boyfriend Alex Montgomery's phone and proceeded to share with her 2,000 Instagram followers, promising that they would be "all over the internet tomorrow."
She would delete the images just eight minutes later, but the damage had been done. Her followers latched on to them and shared them across social media forums and internet chatrooms, with the unnamed victim reportedly so devastated over the leaks that she tried to kill herself. She would survive the attempt and Dale would be subsequently be charged with disclosing a private sexual photograph with intent to cause distress.
According to the Daily Mail, the 28-year-old wept at the Tameside Magistrates' Court in Greater Manchester as she pleaded guilty to her charge, though she would still walk out a free woman after being handed down a 12-weeks suspended jail sentence. She was also ordered to pay £200 ($260) in costs and surcharges.
The court heard that the explicit images were on Montogomery's phone because he had had an affair with the victim several years before he met Dale. She had sent him the snaps and asked him to delete it the day after, but he wouldn't comply with the request.
Addressing the court, prosecutor Ashley Seetal said that the graphic images were first put up by Dale for ten minutes, taken down and then re-uploaded once again the next afternoon, resulting in the victim attempting to take her own life and receiving treatment for the same. She said the incident had resulted in "serious distress and significant psychological harm."
The court also heard the contents of a probation report that explained Dale's motivations in posting the images. It stated how the 28-year-old, a clothing boss, was made "redundant" — i.e. dismissed from her job — which caused her anxiety.
She had reportedly not informed her family because she feared their reaction, as her brother had been willing to invest in her business at that point. Then, when she went out celebrating on her birthday, she found the photos and "acted on impulse with intent of seeking revenge," the report read.
Her defense lawyer Gavin Clarke claimed the incident could not be likened to revenge and said it was "a spur of the moment." He said, "She sees these images, graphic and explicit images and various, and she is devastated, she is mortified."
"They are uploaded to an Instagram account with between 1,500 to 1,600 followers. It was posted for between 8 and 9 minutes at 7.30am in the morning," he continued. "In terms of how many people who have viewed those, the numbers are going to be extremely limited. I accept there has been some humiliation but this is very different to revenge, this was a spur of the moment."