A former paratrooper who re-trained as a teacher posted deepfake porn profiles of four women, a court heard.
Jonathan Bates, 54, was jailed yesterday for five years after putting up doctored images on websites offering sexual services.
One horrifying incident resulted in a man appearing at a schoolteacher’s home after believing she had cancelled a date arranged online. In fact, it was revealed he had been speaking with Bates.
His victims, forced to explain to friends and employers why they appeared on pornographic websites, tracked him down themselves when police failed to do so.
Father-of-one Bates, who served for 15 years and was awarded the Northern Ireland medal, completed an educational conversion course in 2012 and began a job at a primary school in Canterbury, Kent.
He then targeted his teaching mentor, who became aware when a friend revealed to her in 2015 there were explicit sex images of her online, Truro Crown Court was told.
Stuart Allen, prosecuting, said: ‘The fake accounts show images of her face on the bodies of other women involved in pornographic acts and are accompanied by disgusting and explicit language about what is being done.’
Th teacher later asked people to get in touch with information about her lost cat – but those who searched for her online were confronted by vile doctored images.
Former paratrooper Jonathan Bates (pictured), 54, posted deepfake porn profiles of four women, a court heard
One of Jonathan Bates’ victims, Kirsty Pellant, who discovered sick doctored images of herself on porn sites
The horrified teacher reported the sites to Kent Police but the force was unable to identify the perpetrator.
The school’s safeguarding lead Kirsty Pellant, 44, then discovered sick doctored images of herself on porn sites but again detectives could not link them to the former soldier.
On Valentine’s Day in 2017, a man who had tried to arrange a date with her after seeing her on a porn site arrived at her home. Ms Pellant was also bombarded with messages asking why she had failed to keep arranged ‘bookings’.
Bates met his third victim briefly at a funeral after his family had returned to Cornwall. She went to the police after she was contacted by a Scottish glamour photographer. She used social media to identify the other women who Bates had targeted.
Mr Allen said one of the victims realised ‘there was a common denominator – all had the same mutual friend, Jon Bates’.
The trio discovered there were also images of Bates’ ex-wife on the sites. Police found in his home nine USB sticks containing personal details and photo of hundreds of women.
Bates admitted four charges of stalking by creating fake online accounts and a fifth charge of revenge porn.
His ex-wife, in an impact statement, described his actions as ‘such a betrayal’, adding: ‘I feel isolated. It has had a dreadful effect on [my family].’Ms Pellant, who agreed after the case to be pictured, said: ‘I’ve had to leave my job, my career and the financial implications have been significant. This violation has been incredibly hurtful.’
The second victim, the teacher, said she has tried to change her appearance so she would not be recognised and the third victim claimed that people doubted she knew nothing about the posts.
Judge Simon Carr, who also imposed a ten-year order banning Bates from contacting his victims, said: ‘You appear to have gained pleasure from the humiliation and terrorising of those women. The effect upon them has been utterly devastating.’
