I drunkenly sent sexy selfies to a pal – when he learnt I was engaged two years later he posted them all over Facebook
A MUM told of her horror after a pal shared naked photos of her on Facebook in a fit of rage after she quit her marriage for a tramp.
Louise Morecombe had swapped steamy snaps with friend Daniel Rowland in a night of drunken flirting over social media.
Two years later she dumped her husband after falling for down-and-out lover Stuart while volunteering at a homeless charity.
But Rowland took exception to her announcing her unlikely new beau on Facebook - and posted the stash of naked photos to her social media timeline for all her friends to see.
Rowland - a self-styled "pavement poet" who ekes out a living chalking rhymes on the streets of Swindon, Wiltshire - admitted revenge porn in court last month.
Shamed Louise - who plans to wed ex-hobo Stuart after he popped the question on Christmas Day 2018 - said: “I was absolutely mortified when Daniel shared my photos.
"All the kids’ friends saw them and they suffered terrible abuse at school.
“Daniel begged me for forgiveness - but that’s never going to happen.
“He makes himself out to be a caring, sensitive poet type but he’s just a scrounging perv.”
Louise, a mum of four, said she had temporarily split from husband Mark in 2016 when her innocent Facebook chats with Rowland turned steamy.
The 36-year-old says she kept a "secret folder" on her phone full of X-rated images that she had shared with Mark in happier times.
But as the temperature rose in her Messenger chats with Rowland, she stupidly shared some of the snaps with him.
Louise, from Swindon, continued: “I had this hidden folder with loads of pictures I’d made for Mark over the years.
“I’d send him one from time to time. They left nothing to the imagination.
“But in 2016 we separated for seven months. I’d known Daniel for a while through Facebook and one night - after I’d drunk too much red wine - we got talking.
“Things turned flirty very quickly and stupidly I shared around 20 of my secret photos with him. I don’t know what I was thinking.”
Louise says she woke the next day to a message from Rowland saying "Good morning!" with a winking emoji.
And as awkward memories of the previous night came flooding back, she begged Rowland to delete the images.
“I told him it had all been a massive mistake, to forget it ever happened and to permanently delete the pictures I'd sent him,” she said.
“He promised me he had done, and said he hoped we could still be friends.
Things turned flirty very quickly and stupidly I shared around 20 of my secret photos with him. I don’t know what I was thinking.
Louise Morecombe
“Daniel always spoke very respectfully of women, and I didn’t think for a moment he would ever try to hurt me.”
Louise - who has waived anonymity - says she tried to put the incident behind her.
But it left her cringing with embarrassment whenever she saw Rowland crouched over his chalked poems while out shopping in Swindon town centre.
She went on to help found a homeless charity - Swindon Homeless Volunteers in 2017.
And through her selfless work she met rough sleeper Stuart, 40, who was living in a makeshift cardboard den on the third floor of a Debenham’s multi-storey car park.
Louise remembered: “I met Stuart on a freezing November night in 2017.
“He was, in his own words, a tramp, and was bedding down on an old mattress and a pile of blankets.
“We helped him out and I always looked forward to seeing him in his usual spot as we did our rounds.
“And as the weeks went by it dawned on me that I fancied him.”
The charity helped Stuart into a flat in early 2018.
Louise says she tried to keep a professional distance but by April 2018 could no longer deny her feelings for dreadlocked Stuart.
She confessed her love for him and told Mark their ten-year marriage was over.
And after months of dating the pair announced their relationship on Facebook in December 2018.
Louise remembered: “Daniel took exception to it. He thought I was being a bad parent and damaging my children.
“He said I had to end it or I’d be sorry and warned me he still had all the naked photos of me.
“A short while later my phone started pinging with Facebook notifications. I picked it up and to my horror there were about 20.
I’ve got thousands of friends on Facebook and Daniel had posted the photos to my timeline as well as his.
Louise Morecombe
“I’ve got thousands of friends on Facebook and Daniel had posted the photos to my timeline as well as his.
“I was devastated, but I couldn’t just delete them there and then - I screen-shotted everything so I would have enough evidence to go to the police.”
Wiltshire Police sent two officers to the house.
“They were brilliant,” said Louise. “But I was squirming with embarrassment. It was awful.”
Louise explained that Rowland messaged her pleading for forgiveness - as one of the officers gathered screenshots from her phone.
“It was in her hand as the message came in. Daniel was bang to rights.”
What is revenge porn?
Revenge porn is one of the UK's newest crimes as cops and politicians look to clamp down on a growing trend of ex-partners humiliating their former lovers.
The consequences of Revenge Porn can be devastating but people are often unaware of the risks or what they should do if they become a victim.
The Government says: "Revenge Porn is the sharing of private, sexual materials, either photos or videos, of another person without their consent and with the purpose of causing embarrassment or distress.
"The images are sometimes accompanied by personal information about the subject, including their full name, address and links to social media profiles.
"The offence applies both online and offline and to images shared electronically in a more traditional way, so includes the uploading of images on the internet, sharing by text and e-mail, or showing someone a physical or electronic image.
"Under the new offence, private materials are those showing anything not usually seen in public.
"Sexual material not only covers images that show the pubic region, but anything that a reasonable person would consider to be sexual so this could be a picture of someone who is engaged in sexual behaviour or posing in a sexually provocative way."
A new law was introduced in England and Wales in 2015 in a bid to crack down on crimes against women.
It made it an offence to share private sexual images or videos without the subject's consent, with a maximum sentence of two years imprisonment.
A September 2016 Crown Prosecution Service report said 206 people were prosecuted for sharing private sexual images in the first year of the offence.
Anyone can become a target of revenge porn but in the majority of cases the offender is known to the victim.
Victim Support, an independent charity which provides help and information to victims of crime, say it is important for people targeted through explicit pictures not to suffer in silence.
Stuart went on to propose to Louise on Christmas Day 2018 and the pair moved in together in April last year.
Rowland initially denied a charge of disclosing a private sexual photograph with intent to cause distress.
Louise was steeling herself to give evidence at Swindon Crown Court three weeks ago when Rowland changed his plea to guilty at the last minute.
Judge Peter Crabtree said: “There was an impulsive act here and at most this was intended to cause limited distress.”
He gave Rowland a 12-month community order with 120 hours of unpaid work.
Louise said: “Thanks to Rowland, I get recognised in the street for all the wrong reasons - there’s always someone who has seen the photos.
“I wouldn’t wish what he’s done on my worst enemies.”
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