A woman took a picture of her friend getting undressed in a bathroom and shared it with people on Snapchat.
Jessica Bailey, 22, from Northwich, claimed she secretly captured her pal on camera because she spoke about her in “negative terms” on the platform. Bailey passed the intimate image around to her other friends, without the victim’s knowledge. When the victim discovered what Bailey had done and asked her why, she replied: “Because I can.” The woman, who did not give consent for the photo, was left in “distress” after feeling humiliated. Chester magistrates court heard how the image was taken as an “emotional reaction to an argument”.
She said the pair had drifted apart. The 22-year-old pleaded guilty to two charges of sharing a photograph or film of a person in an intimate state intending to cause alarm distress or humiliation.
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Jessica Bailey/ Cavendish Press (Manchester) Ltd)
Bailey, who had potentially faced up to 26 weeks in jail under sentencing guidelines, was instead ordered to complete an 18-month community order and to wear a ‘sobriety tag’ for 120 days as part of a monitored alcohol abstinence requirement. She was also ordered to complete 35 days of rehabilitation activity and to pay £199 in costs and a victim surcharge. She had faced up to 26 weeks in jail under sentencing guidelines.
Miss Selda Krasniqi, prosecuting, said: “This arises out of Snapchat texts or conversation. At around 10 o’clock on July 29, 2024 a witness received call from a friend to say that they have received a nude photo of one of their friends. That witness then messages Jessica Bailey on Snapchat to ask why she sent the photo. She responded with a video saying ‘Because I can.’ The witness said she can ‘get done’ for sending the photo and the defendant responds ‘I did not even send that.’
“The witness then called the victim and told her to speak to her friend who received the photo. The photo appeared to be seen by more than one person. On speaking to the friend, the victim confirmed that the image was taken when she got changed in Bailey’s bathroom. She was not aware that the photo had been taken and did not consent for it to be taken or shared. The defendant was interviewed but gave a ‘no comment’ to all questions. There was evidence of her sharing the image with another party. It caused some distress and some psychological harm to the victim. “
In mitigation, Bailey’s solicitor Sarah Hamblett said there was “no element of planning” ahead of sharing the image, reports Manchester Evening News. “The defendant did not intend to cause particular distress,” she said. “In fact she did not really give thought to the level of distress that she would cause but there was no intention in terms of maliciousness on her part.”
She added the complainant and the defendant had been “very close friends” , but that the friendship had broken down. In sentencing Bailey JP Frances Miller told her: “Make sure you do everything the probation ask of you otherwise they may well bring you back here. Just do everything they ask of you.”
