English court jails first ‘cyberflasher’ under online safety laws
- Convicted sex offender Nicholas Hawkes, 39, sentenced to 66 weeks in prison
- Cyberflashing involves offenders sending people an unsolicited sexual image
The first person convicted of cyberflashing in England and Wales was sentenced to 66 weeks in prison on Tuesday, prosecutors said, after he sent unsolicited explicit photos of his genitals over WhatsApp.
Nicholas Hawkes, 39, pleaded guilty to two counts of “sending a photograph or film of genitals to cause alarm, distress or humiliation”, police said.
He was sentenced to 52 weeks in prison for cyberflashing offences and to a further 14 weeks for breaching a previous court order, the Crown Prosecutor Service (CPS) said.
In February, Hawkes sent the photos to a 15-year-old girl and a woman, prosecutors said, days after cyberflashing became an offence under the Online Safety Act.
Under the law targeted at combating online sexual harassment, cyberflashing offences on dating apps, AirDrop and other platforms can result in up to two years in prison.
