ALEX WOOLF IN CAMBRIDGE CONVICTED FOR IMAGE EXPLOITATION
A former BBC Young Composer of the Year has been convicted of secretly taking images of women from social media and posting them on pornographic websites.Alex Woolf, 26, downloaded images of 15 women, all of whom were acquaintances, while they were clothed, and manipulated these pictures by asking others to pose their faces onto adult actresses' bodies on Reddit.
He subsequently uploaded these altered images to adult websites.
Woolf was sentenced to 20 weeks in prison, suspended for two years, after admitting 15 charges at Thames Magistrates' Court.
The charges involved sending messages that were grossly offensive or indecent, via a public electronic communications network.
Woolf, from Cox's End in Over, Cambridgeshire, accepted these allegations.
The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) clarified that none of the original images were pornographic or indecent, and all the women involved were known to Woolf.
According to the CPS, one of his victims became aware of the posts in January when an anonymous email alerted her that her picture was posted on Reddit.
In March, she received another email informing her that her image had appeared on a pornographic website and that Woolf was responsible.
Following this, she discovered other images and recognized one of the women featured, which helped her identify and notify the other victims.
The CPS described Woolf’s actions as "morally repugnant." In addition to his suspended sentence, Woolf was ordered to complete a 40-day rehabilitation program, attend 40 sessions with a sex offender treatment program, and perform 180 hours of unpaid community service.
He was also required to pay each victim £100 in compensation, alongside court costs of £85 and a victim surcharge of £128.
Furthermore, Woolf was mandated to delete all images related to the victims from his devices and was issued an indefinite restraining order preventing any contact with the women.
Varinder Hayre, district crown prosecutor at the CPS, commented: "Woolf's behavior is severely depraved and reprehensible...
and has had a drastic impact on his victims.
We will always seek to prosecute cases of sexual exploitation, and this case sends a clear message that such morally repugnant actions will not be tolerated."
