A LINWOOD man is facing jail for sending intimate snaps of a young woman to her mum.
Garry McNeill, 33, could be caged for up to 18 months for leaking the photographs, which he is said to have got by hacking the iCloud account of his victim, who can’t be named for legal reasons.
Procurator Fiscal Depute Margaret McCallum explained: “On December 7, 2012, [the woman’s] mother started receiving messages via WhatsApp, via Garry McNeill’s number.
“She knew his number through previous contact.
“The first message was sent at 5.15pm and more messages followed.
“The content of the messages received from the accused expressed concern to [the woman’s mum] and also included screenshots of [the woman] wearing underwear and in a number of, what can be described as, ‘compromising positions’.”
As well as showing what appeared to be the woman and another man being intimate with each other, pictures showed her in her underwear and one of the images showed the woman to be “half naked and wearing only a Rangers top.”
He sent the woman’s mum a total of 32 messages - resulting in her asking him to stop.
He also then posted the pictures on to a business Facebook page the woman ran.
Mrs McCallum, prosecuting, added: “[The woman] stated that, at no time, were the images of herself given to anyone, nobody was given access to them, and nobody was given permission to post these pictures.
“They were stored on her iCloud storage space.”
Defence solicitor Rhona Lynch said McNeill claimed he had been sent the pictures by his victim “to try and rub his nose in it.”
She added: “This was a misguided attempt to contact the [woman’s] mother to try and draw the mother’s attention to what was going on in [her daughter’s] life - it was not for sexual gratification.
“She sent him pictures of her in compromising positions with other males and he had reason to believe the males were less than desirable.
“He had really reached rock bottom in terms of his mental health.”
He had also previously pleaded guilty to breaking his bail conditions by contacting [the victim], and returned to the dock at Paisley Sheriff Court last week to be sentenced for that and for the revenge porn offence.
But the cases were adjourned until September for a debate to take place, as his lawyers are arguing that leaking the pictures was not a sexually motivated offence - and that he should not be placed on the Sex Offenders’ Register.
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article