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You are here: BAILII >> Databases >> England and Wales High Court (King's Bench Division) Decisions >> FGX v Gaunt [2023] EWHC 419 (KB) (27 February 2023) URL: https://www.bailii.org/ew/cases/EWHC/KB/2023/419.html Cite as: [2023] EWHC 419 (KB) |
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KING'S BENCH DIVISION
Strand, London, WC2A 2LL |
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B e f o r e :
____________________
![]() | Claimant |
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- and – |
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Stuart ![]() ![]() |
Defendant |
____________________
The Defendant did not appear and was not represented
Hearing date: Tuesday 17 January 2023
____________________
VERSION
OF JUDGMENT APPROVED
Crown Copyright ©
The Hon. Mrs Justice Thornton DBE:
Introduction
- intentionally exposing the Claimant to a foreseeable risk of injury or severe distress which resulted in injury
- infringement of the Claimant's privacy
- breach of the Claimant's confidence (misuse of private information).
Factual Background
- in the bathroom while she was naked and cleaning the bathroom before showering
- while she was showering
- while she slept topless
"I found out afterwards that he had been filming me for at least three minutes whilst pretending that he was half asleep. When I was going through his hard drives, I saw that he had taken screen shots of me cleaning the bathroom naked and uploaded these images to what seemed like some pornographic website. He took a photo of me from Facebook so you could see my face clearly and placed that image next to all my naked images. Next to the uploaded naked photos, it had said something like 'dirty sister caught naked' or something to that effect. This was such an awful betrayal of someone that was pretending to love and care for me. Someone that I had trusted, had taken my most intimate moments and gleefully added this to sick websites and relished at his perverted enjoyment of sharing this with thousands of strangers without my knowledge. […] I kept agonizing as to what else he had recorded of me [.] […] What else could he have uploaded onto these sick websites of me […]?"
The proceedings
(i) The trial bundle contains a number of letters sent by the Claimant's solicitors to the Defendant throughout the litigation, informing him of the hearing dates; his right to be present for the purposes of cross-examination and submissions, and his right to be legally represented;
(ii) The Defendant attended the case management hearing on 18 October 2021 so is clearly aware of the proceedings; and
(iii) Counsel explained that the trial bundle was sent to the Defendant the week before the trial by recorded delivery and was signed for by the Defendant. This would have provided a timely reminder of the hearing date.
Quantum of damages
1. |
Pain, Suffering and Loss of Amenity |
To be assessed |
2. |
Cost of Hotel Accommodation |
£1,800 |
3. |
Cost of Furniture |
£8,000 |
4. |
Wasted expenditure on holiday |
£3,351.05 |
5. |
Treatment costs |
£5,377.49 |
6. |
Interest on General and Special Damages |
To be assessed |
7. |
Future Treatment Costs |
£8,672.10 |
8. |
Cost of Removing Images from Internet |
£21,600 |
9. |
Account of Profit |
Not proceeded with |
Evidence
1) a psychiatric report from a Consultant Psychiatrist, Dr Chahl; and
2) a report from Mr Simon Wadsworth, the Managing Partner at Igniyte Ltd, a company providing online content removal services, including the removal of "adult content."
The Claimant's Evidence
"14 On the 23 October 2017, I went to work as usual. However, I had an emotional breakdown because of everything I had found and so I returned home and contacted the police. I also booked a GP appointment for the same day and I was prescribed Diazepam.
15 The following afternoon, a detective collected me from the house and took me to a suite to complete a safeguarding assessment. The police then took me to Reading police station where I gave avideo
interview.
16 I fled the house on 25 October 2017 as I did not want to be there when Stuart returned. I planned to spend my future with Stuart, so I had invested in the house and purchased furniture at cost of approximately £8000. However, I left all of my possessions at the house as I wanted to leave as quickly as possible.
……
19 Stuart was manipulative. I have been seeing a therapist for a while and I have been diagnosed with PTSD. I believe I will have PTSD for the rest of my life. To my knowledge, at least one of the images of me is still available online. I asked the police to help me have the images removed. Detective Michael Watts, who was working on the case, told me that he was moving to a new department and that I should try to have it removed after Stuart was sentenced. It has caused me a lot of distress to have to live with the knowledge that these images are still on the internet. I am worried that after such a long time, it is futile to try to have the images removed from one website as they may have been shared elsewhere online.
20 I am receiving treatment from a consultant psychiatrist who prescribes me medication. I am also having counselling with a therapist…."
"3 I have been diagnosed with anxiety and depression and post traumatic stress disorder.
4 I have undergone counselling but this has not particularly improved my position. I would like to undergo more specialist counselling but this is incredibly expensive and I cannot afford more counselling at present.
5 I have become like a recluse. I am managing to work but only because I am allowed to work from home. I am so keen to do this that I am actually looking to have my employment contract amended to specify that I can remain as a "home worker".
6 I continue to receive medication for my symptoms from my GP. I am prescribed drugs to help me sleep and daily antidepressants.
7 I am reluctant to ever leave home and find any excuse not to go out. I have tried to overcome this but find it impossible. I tend to do all my shopping online. I work from home.
8 I have real trust issues. I cannot trust people. When I have travelled I become paranoid about cameras being hidden and filming me. I will look everywhere to try and find cameras – in air conditioning grates and behind seats. I will not try on clothes in a shop because of a fear that I am being filmed. The fear does not leave you and is constantly there. I am always worried that somebody is watching me that I do not know about.
9 I still have nightmares about what happened. I wake up in a sweat.
10 I have completely come off social media. It is a self-protection thing
11 I now find relationshipsvery
difficult. I have had a relationship since this happened but it failed due to trust issues. I do not trust men and unfortunately see all men as evil. It is a shame as I used to be the type of person who made friends easily and enjoyed socialising. I always believe now that people have ulterior motives.
12 I still believe that there are images of me on the Internet and this causes me immense distress. The Police could not delete any images during the course of the criminal trial. As a result, they were out there for a long time and I believe that the images may been replicated many times over.
13 I manage to work but would find itvery
difficult if I was expected to go into an office environment."
The Expert Evidence
Psychiatric
- 4-6 monthly follow up by a consultant psychiatrist for the next 2-5 years at cost of up to £2000 in the private sector
- a further course and up to two further courses of Cognitive Behavioural Therapy at a cost of up to £2000.
Online content removal
"Unfortunately at first glance, there is no way to determine how many images/videos
are online. When a list of URLs are provided, we can then search google for identical images to see if anything has been duplicated on alternative sites. Based on our experience dealing with similar cases, the likelihood of images and
videos
being replicated elsewhere is high.
Once we have collected the images/videos...we
will then start the removal process. As outlined...we have 3 proven methods that require different steps for removal…. The cost for this service is dependent on quantity. If there is a significant amount of content (over 20 image links/
videos)
we can offer a monthly payment plan at an estimated £3000 plus
VAT
per month. On average this will continue for six months. In the event there are less than 20 image links/
videos
we may offer a per link removal which would start at £1000 plus
VAT
per link, however less than 20 links/
videos
in this type of removal is rare."
Findings
General damages
Analysis
Special damages
Cost of hotel, furniture and wasted holiday
Past treatment costs
- Psychiatric treatment from a Consultant Psychiatrist (£2680)
- Therapy from a Clinical Therapist (£546.33)
- Dentistry to repair teeth damaged by the Claimant grinding her teeth at night (£954.56)
- Prescriptions (£1,196.60)
Interest calculation
Cost of removing the images from the internet
Future treatment costs
Total Award
Pain, suffering and loss of amenity £60,000
Special damages £37,041.61
TOTAL £97,041.61