(Image: Pixabay)
A TEENAGER hacked into an under-age girl’s Snapchat account and sold sexual images of her online, York Crown Court heard.
The girl didn’t realise what Harry Brian Umpleby had done until friends told her of the pictures and videos circulating online, said Laura Petto, prosecuting.
She had been under 16 years old when she had put them in a folder marked ‘My Eyes Only’ in a Snapchat account that could only be accessed by her.
North Yorkshire Police and Essex Police, which was first contacted about the images, worked together to link both the IP address that had been used to access the Snapchat account and the PayPal account that received payments for the images to Umpleby.
When they raided his home, they found 23 videos and 13 pictures of the most serious category of child sexual images and 20 videos and 94 pictures of the least serious category on his laptop and iPhone.
He had put them in a folder with the girl’s name on it.
He had received no more than £40 for the images. said Ms Petto.
Judge Simon Hickey said it was a ‘shameful offence’ which had been planned and during which Umpleby had intruded into the girl’s intimacy and exposed her on the internet.
Umpleby, now 21, of Harlow Crescent, Harrogate, pleaded guilty on the day of his trial to unauthorised access to computer material.
He had earlier pleaded guilty to two charges of having indecent sexual images of a child.
As the offences were committed when he was aged 16 to 18 and there had been a couple of years between his arrest and charge, the judge reduced the sentence.
Umpleby was given an 18-month community order with 15 days’ rehabilitative activities and a 26-session rehabilitative programme.
He must also pay £600 prosecution costs and a statutory surcharge and was put on the disbarring list preventing him from working with vulnerable adults and children.
His barrister Susannah Proctor said Umpleby pleaded guilty on the basis that someone else was the first to put the images online.
‘He now understands the impact of his behaviour,’ she said.
‘He is truly remorseful. He appreciates the stupidity of his actions and also the seriousness of them.’
He had been immature at the time and as he had committed the offences at home, he hadn't seen the visual impact on the girl.
He had no previous convictions and had not reoffended since.
He had got work and was contributing to society.
She handed in character references and said Umpleby’s parents were supporting him.
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Ms Petto said the girl had put the images of herself in the Snapchat account, which had only one member, herself.
Later she had set up another Snapchat account which she used, but she had forgotten to delete the earlier one.
Then she began to receive messages about images of herself circulating online and checking them realised what they were.