Georgia Harrison today bravely condemned Stephen Bear for making money off a sex tape he illegally shared of them after the disgraced reality TV star was ordered to pay £27,500 within three months or face a further nine months in jail.
The Love Island star thanked the Crown Prosecution Service, Essex Police and the court for enforcing a confiscation order on her shamed ex-partner and for awarding her the money he earned from his sick revenge porn crime.
Ms Harrison, who has been a key campaigner to change the law on revenge porn, said outside Chelmsford Crown Court: ‘Nobody has the right to earn money from any crime but to earn so much from image based sexual abuse is quite frankly abhorrent.’
Bear was told by His Honour Christopher Morgan told that he must pay the £22,305 he made from sharing the sex tape on his OnlyFans site. He has also been ordered to pay Ms Harrison £5,000 for the emotional and financial distress he had caused her.
He thanked the judge and left Chelmsford Crown Court without further comment.
Ms Harrison earlier told the court Bear had not shown a ‘scrap of remorse’ and had not paid ‘one penny’ in compensation for the emotional and financial damage she had suffered after he posted the intimate film online.
Interrupting Ms Harrison’s evidence, Bear yelled from the dock: ‘The truth is I’m innocent!’
Ms Harrison told how fashion brands had abandoned her after the sex-tape was published on Bear’s OnlyFans site, costing her at least £30,000 in cancelled contracts.
The 34-year-old was jailed on March 3 last year after being found guilty of voyeurism and of two counts of disclosing private sexual photographs and films with intent to cause distress.
He was freed from prison on January 14, having served 10-and-a-half months of his 21 month sentence.
Speaking outside court following the decision, the former TOWIE star said: ‘I am grateful to the CPS and Essex Police for all their hard work to ensure the confiscation that was enforced today and to the court for awarding me the money earned by the defendant through the proceeds of crime.’
She condemned Bear for making money off the sex tape, adding: ‘I think it’s important that anyone who commits this awful crime should be made to give any money they made back to the victim and also the judicial system, especially after a successful conviction.
‘I’ll be giving some of the money to charities of my choice who supported me throughout this ordeal.
‘And I just want to thank Essex Police Force, everyone who represented me, Judge Christopher Morgan for ensuring that justice once again is served.
‘And also I think this is a clear example why it is so important to report these sorts of crimes to the police. They are there to help you so please do let them.’
Former Celebrity Big Brother winner Bear had arrived 15 minutes late to the 2pm hearing earlier today, wearing a pink opened-neck shirt, grey trousers and a pair of of £16.50 loafers from ASOS.
His former partner, Love Island contestant Ms Harrison, had arrived on time, wearing a black coat, white collared top and black shoes.
During the hearing she told the court: ‘Imagine walking into a room and knowing that everyone had seen you in a sexual act.
‘I was at the lowest I have ever been. I couldn’t go out, to the gym, to bars, everyone was talking about it. Almost every brand dropped me until I got my voice back [during the court proceedings].
‘But even after the guilty verdict some people still won’t work with me because I have effectively been put into the porn industry by someone I was nothing but good to.
‘I felt violated, ashamed, embarrassed. I blamed myself for putting myself in this situation with this person.
‘If I ever one day I want to have children that footage will always be out there.’
Ms Harrison added: ‘He has never shown a scrap of remorse or apologised. He has not paid one penny, no hint that he would ever pay.
‘He made money from that video which I don’t think is fair.
‘Bear done [sic] everything he could to hide his assets while he was in prison.’
Prosecuting counsel Andrew Bousfield urged the court to order Bear to make a payment to Ms Harrison for the financial and emotional damage she had suffered.
He told the court that Ms Harrison had won a compensation order of £207,000 and a further £205,000 in costs against Bear but she was unlikely to ever to see the money.
Mr Bousfield told the court: ‘The question for today your Honour is what happens that money [the £22,305 profit Bear made from the sex tape].
‘Mr Bear sold his house while he was in prison that produced £60,000 profit.’
The Crown’s barrister told the court that compensation orders are usually split between the Treasury and the police.
But he added: ‘Your Honour could also order the same amount [£22,305] to go to Miss Harrison.’
In a previous hearing Bear was found to have profited £22,305.46 from the CCTV footage which was filmed in his garden on August 2, 2020.
At the time of the video, Bear was posing as ‘a billionaire’ on his Twitter and YouTube accounts but was ‘in fact heavily overdrawn’, Essex Police financial investigator Laura Mackenzie told the court in January.
Prosecutor Andrew Bousfield added ‘despite pretending to be a billionaire, his most valuable asset at the time was selling sexual videos’.
His main asset at the time was £60,000 in owning his house, the court heard.
His OnlyFans subscriber count was said to have jumped 43 per cent as a result of the video, from 1,061 when it was uploaded on November 8, 2020 to 1,883 by the time his account was de-activated on December 8.
The footage was available to subscribers behind a $9.99 (£7.84) paywall on his profile ‘@hollywoodbear’.
There was said to have been a ‘jump up’ in the $9.99 purchases when the footage started ‘go viral’ and Ms Harrison became aware of it.
A total of 273 subscribers purchased the video and, following the standard 20 per cent cut to OnlyFans, this earned him £1,650.98, the court heard.
After the video was posted he adjusted his subscription fee, from a range of $7.50 (£5.89) to $50 (£39.28).
Through extra subscribers drawn in by the video, he was found to have earned £15,440.28, on top of the £1,650.98 earned through the paywall, Ms Mackenzie told the court.
Calculations on how much Bear earned from the video were debated during the hearing, and the judge noted that this was troubled by the convicted sex offender refusing take the stand and provide evidence.
Judge Christopher Morgan accepted Ms Mackenzie’s valuation of his profits, and acknowledged it was difficult to deduce precisely what each new subscriber sought when they joined his account after the video’s release.
He said: ‘He had, by the time the account had been set up, filmed himself and Georgia Harrison, that material being the subject of the criminal charges that he faced.
‘The defendant plainly intended that that material would be placed onto his OnlyFans account.’
The OnlyFans hearing in January then moved immediately into a second case regarding a fence around Bear’s property that Epping Forest District Council claims is too tall.
It was reiterated that Bear was unemployed and had no immediate prospects of getting a job.
His defence barrister in the second hearing said: ‘He doesn’t have a car to his name – we ask for a modest financial penalty, there seems to be little purpose in hammering him with a significant financial penalty.
‘As of today, there isn’t employment, and there isn’t a guaranteed contract (of employment), but certainly the impression is that he’s dedicated to making a lawful professional career.’
Judge Morgan acknowledged that he had ‘no certain or paid employment’ at present, but was satisfied Bear could pay the money. He was ordered to pay a £500 fine and £4,707.05 in costs in 56 days.
But Bear recently claimed he is on Jobseeker’s Allowance and could only pay Georgia Harrison £10-per-week
Bear’s two-bedroom end-of-terrace house in Loughton, Essex was sold for £400,000 on July 25 last year, while he was in prison, but most of the proceeds went to his lenders to pay off the mortgage.
Ms Harrison has become a campaigner against revenge porn and violence since Bear’s trial. In October last year, she appeared on stage at Labour’s conference in Liverpool to demand that abuse cases are given priority in courts.
She said it took two years from the day she reported the crime for Bear to be convicted and warned about the impact of long legal processes on victims of other crimes, such as rape and domestic abuse.
Following Bear’s conviction, she spoke out about her pride in the changes to the law surrounding revenge porn and his landmark imprisonment.
At the time of his release in January, Ms Harrison was starring in the latest series of Love Island: All Stars villa, where she found love with her new boyfriend Anton Danyluk.
After learning of his release, Ms Harrison said: ‘Honestly, I feel protected by the law, I’ve got a restraining order on him, so he can’t come near me and he can’t speak about me.
‘I think everyone deserves to rehabilitate themselves and to find a way to become a better person and I truly hope for him that is the case.
‘Apart from that. I don’t think I’ll be overthinking it and I’m just going to take it day by day, but just try not to let my past, encroach on my present moment.’
Stephen must wear an ankle tag throughout the second half of his sentence.
A restraining order bans him from contacting Georgia for five years and he must also keep police informed of his whereabouts for a decade.
James Parker is a UK-based entertainment aficionado who delves into the glitz and glamour of the entertainment industry. From Hollywood to the West End, he offers readers an insider’s perspective on the world of movies, music, and pop culture.
