This article is more than 6 months old

This article is more than 6 months old

A woman has been jailed for posing as a man on a gay dating app and sharing sexual photos and videos of a man she met online during a “disturbing campaign of harassment”.

Yannick Glaudin, 31, stalked the man and his then boyfriend, sending their families, friends and colleagues the intimate pictures and films using a number of fake identities, Inner London crown court was told.

Police and Crimestoppers were contacted on multiple occasions over false claims, including of assault and paedophilia, against one man, while his friends were warned he had a “bounty on his head”.

Glaudin, who had evaded justice for more than a year after fleeing to her native France, admitted to her crimes. She was sentenced to 13 months in prison on Monday.

The judge, Silas Reid, said Glaudin was driven by revenge after her initial victim broke off contact. He described her behaviour as “designed to cause maximum upset”.

John McNamara, prosecuting, told the court that in May 2017, Glaudin, using the pseudonym Steven St Pier, met her first male victim via Grindr. The pair exchanged phone numbers, email addresses and even the victim’s CV as he was job hunting.

“During the period of contact, the victim sent to the defendant a number of intimate and personal pictures and videos,” McNamara said.

But the victim had doubts over Glaudin’s true identity and ended their online-only contact in December 2017. This triggered months of harassment, beginning with the defendant sending the sexual images to his stepfather, friends and friends of friends.

Glaudin, who worked as a construction draftsman and chef, escalated the harassment from February 2018, when her victim started a relationship with another man.

The now ex-boyfriend’s friends were contacted by Glaudin, using pseudonyms such as Harry Wars and Nick Guel on Facebook and Instagram, who made false allegations about him.

In March 2018, a false report was made to Crimestoppers claiming the boyfriend had been abusing a young boy and was linked to a known prostitute, McNamara said.

On another date, a fake report was made to police pretending to be from a victim’s boss, “stating that he had seen videos of underage sex on a laptop”, the prosecutor said.

Other messages suggested there was “a price” of €1,000 on the boyfriend’s head in Barcelona and London. Photos of the first victim using the London underground were also emailed to him.

Meanwhile, several men “looking for sex” tried to visit their then shared flat after being in contact with someone using the first victim’s name, the court heard.

Speaking at the court in south-east London, the former boyfriend said the experience had been “hell”.

“I suffered the extreme shock of constant, insidious daily harassment at home, work and on every online channel I was registered on, by someone completely anonymous, using multiple aliases,” he said.

“The perpetrator has accused me personally of being a paedophile, impersonated me and my partner online via dating applications, sent multiple strangers to my home demanding anonymous sex, followed me … home, and taken photographs of our front door and taunted us about it.”

The court heard that after pleading guilty to her offences in July 2018, Glaudin fled to France. A European arrest warrant was later issued. She was extradited in January and Metropolitan police officers crossed the Channel to bring her into custody.

Representing Glaudin, Ricky Yau said the defendant had returned to France to visit two terminally ill relatives. Yau said she believed: “What I’ve done to them is nasty, cruel and stupid and I regret it.”

The judge questioned why Glaudin had not faced more serious charges than those put by the prosecution. “It’s difficult to understand why you did what you did, other than that during the period of your offending you were consumed by jealousy and a desire for revenge,” he told her during sentencing.

During her “disturbing campaign of harassment” Glaudin ignored pleas from her victims to stop and use fake social media accounts to “inveigle” her way into their circle of friends to track their lives, Reid said.

Glaudin, who has no previous convictions, was sentenced to 12 months for a charge of disclosing private sexual photos and films with intent to cause distress, four months for one count of harassment without violence and four months for one of stalking without fear, alarm or distress.

These will be served concurrently, with a further one month sentence for breaching bail to be served consecutively.

Glaudin is also subject to a lifelong restraining order preventing her from contacting her victims and other individuals connected to the case.