A school safeguarding officer who fell victim to a traumatising deepfake porn plot has revealed how she was forced to track down the predator herself after police failed to find him.
Kirsty Pellant, 44, was one of four women whose faces were superimposed onto naked women carrying out sex acts on pornographic websites by 54-year-old Jonathan Bates.
Bates, a former paratrooper who retrained as a teacher, was jailed for five years on Thursday after uploading doctored images on websites offering sexual services.
Ms Pellant's life took a disturbing turn on February 14, 2017, when a man who had tried to arrange a date with her on a porn site arrived at her home.
The safeguarding officer, who had never created a profile on the site or put explicit images of herself online, saw the stranger post a Valentine's Day card in a red envelope through her letterbox.
She then received a message on LinkedIn from an account with the same name as the person who signed the card, asking her why she had failed to turn up for a date at a pub in Canterbury, Kent.
'I am guessing you might be inundated with emails from XHamster's guys,' he said, in messages seen by The Times.
The man believed that the pair had exchanged messages on the porn website after he had viewed sexual images of her.
Kirsty Pellant, 44, was one of four women whose faces were superimposed onto naked women carrying out sex acts on pornographic websites by 54-year-old Jonathan Bates
Former paratrooper Jonathan Bates (pictured) has been jailed for five years after finally being identified
But he had no idea that he had been exchanging messages with Bates, not Ms Pellant, on XHamster.
The man said in another message: 'Just to say, I'm an ordinary kinda guy but with a high sex drive. By the way, did you receive a Valentine's Day card in a red envelope?'
Despite having never created a profile, when Ms Pellant typed her name and 'porn' online, gspara01.dothome.co.kr she was horrified to find photographs of her face which had been doctored onto naked porn stars.
Bates, a brief former colleague of Ms Pellant's in Canterbury, had stolen her social media pictures to fake a Facebook account and put profiles on porn sites such as PornHub.
The twisted predator also uploaded deepfake images and videos of Pellant - and three other women.
Deepfakes are created without the consent of the person pictured, using artificial intelligence.
Ms Pellant was among several women who Bates stalked online and used their photos for deepfakes. He also published their addresses, phone numbers and work details on porn sites.
Last week, Bates was jailed for five years at Truro Crown Court after admitting to stalking four women and a single charge of revenge porn, which related to images of a victim that were undoctored but published without consent.
Former paratrooper Jonathan Bates (pictured) posted deepfake porn profiles of four women
Read More
Former soldier is jailed for five years after creating fake porn profiles for four women
The judge also imposed a ten-year order banning Bates from contacting his victims.
When Ms Pellant first reported the fake images and profiles, Kent Police said they could not find the perpetrator.
Bates was only snared when the victims, already reeling from the trauma of the deepfakes, became internet sleuths to work out who he was.
They reported him to Devon and Cornwall Police as he had moved to Cornwall.
Ms Pellant has revealed how she was bombarded with messages between 2017 and 2022 by men wanting to have sex.
She also faced abuse from people in her area who believed she was making porn while working in a primary school.
After Bates' sentencing, she told The Times: 'I was not able to go out of the house on my own without fear. I did not know who to be scared of and the police told me not to trust anyone close to me.
'Parents at the school where I was working believed it was actually me in these pornographic videos. It was everywhere. It completely tarnishes your reputation and you have no control over it.'
Ms Pellant has spent the last years trawling through porn sites and swingers sites to submit individual requests to have fake videos taken down.
Bates was finally identified as the creator of the images in 2022 after another victim realised that a fake profile of herself was mutual friends with two women, including Ms Pellant, with similarly explicit profiles.
She located their real social media profiles and contacted them, which is when they realised they all had the same online stalker.
Ms Pellant said they only worked on one safeguarding case together as former colleagues before he moved away in 2014, leaving on 'good terms'.
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 photos of hundreds of women.
Bates served as a soldier for 15 years and was awarded the Northern Ireland medal before completing an educational conversion course in 2012.
A spokesman for Kent Police said: 'Kent Police carried out an extensive and thorough investigation into a report of online harassment which was received in February 2017.
'This included work by officers who specialise in online offences, analysis of communications data and international enquiries with internet organisations. The victim was kept updated throughout.
'After reviewing all the available evidence at the time, no suspect was identified and the investigation was filed in 2019 pending further lines of enquiry coming to light.
'In September 2022, new information was received in relation to the case, which was reopened and officers assisted when it was later transferred to another force, where further victims had been identified.
'We are pleased the case has now resulted in the offender being jailed for these terrible offences and we hope the sentence helps the victims as they continue to live with the long-term impact of these crimes.'
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Kirsty Pellant, 44, was one of four women whose faces were superimposed onto naked women carrying out sex acts on pornographic websites by 54-year-old Jonathan Bates.
Bates, a former paratrooper who retrained as a teacher, was jailed for five years on Thursday after uploading doctored images on websites offering sexual services.
Ms Pellant's life took a disturbing turn on February 14, 2017, when a man who had tried to arrange a date with her on a porn site arrived at her home.
The safeguarding officer, who had never created a profile on the site or put explicit images of herself online, saw the stranger post a Valentine's Day card in a red envelope through her letterbox.
She then received a message on LinkedIn from an account with the same name as the person who signed the card, asking her why she had failed to turn up for a date at a pub in Canterbury, Kent.
'I am guessing you might be inundated with emails from XHamster's guys,' he said, in messages seen by The Times.
The man believed that the pair had exchanged messages on the porn website after he had viewed sexual images of her.
Kirsty Pellant, 44, was one of four women whose faces were superimposed onto naked women carrying out sex acts on pornographic websites by 54-year-old Jonathan Bates
Former paratrooper Jonathan Bates (pictured) has been jailed for five years after finally being identified
But he had no idea that he had been exchanging messages with Bates, not Ms Pellant, on XHamster.
The man said in another message: 'Just to say, I'm an ordinary kinda guy but with a high sex drive. By the way, did you receive a Valentine's Day card in a red envelope?'
Despite having never created a profile, when Ms Pellant typed her name and 'porn' online, gspara01.dothome.co.kr she was horrified to find photographs of her face which had been doctored onto naked porn stars.
Bates, a brief former colleague of Ms Pellant's in Canterbury, had stolen her social media pictures to fake a Facebook account and put profiles on porn sites such as PornHub.
The twisted predator also uploaded deepfake images and videos of Pellant - and three other women.
Deepfakes are created without the consent of the person pictured, using artificial intelligence.
Ms Pellant was among several women who Bates stalked online and used their photos for deepfakes. He also published their addresses, phone numbers and work details on porn sites.
Last week, Bates was jailed for five years at Truro Crown Court after admitting to stalking four women and a single charge of revenge porn, which related to images of a victim that were undoctored but published without consent.
Former paratrooper Jonathan Bates (pictured) posted deepfake porn profiles of four women
Read More
Former soldier is jailed for five years after creating fake porn profiles for four women
The judge also imposed a ten-year order banning Bates from contacting his victims.
When Ms Pellant first reported the fake images and profiles, Kent Police said they could not find the perpetrator.
Bates was only snared when the victims, already reeling from the trauma of the deepfakes, became internet sleuths to work out who he was.
They reported him to Devon and Cornwall Police as he had moved to Cornwall.
Ms Pellant has revealed how she was bombarded with messages between 2017 and 2022 by men wanting to have sex.
She also faced abuse from people in her area who believed she was making porn while working in a primary school.
After Bates' sentencing, she told The Times: 'I was not able to go out of the house on my own without fear. I did not know who to be scared of and the police told me not to trust anyone close to me.
'Parents at the school where I was working believed it was actually me in these pornographic videos. It was everywhere. It completely tarnishes your reputation and you have no control over it.'
Ms Pellant has spent the last years trawling through porn sites and swingers sites to submit individual requests to have fake videos taken down.
Bates was finally identified as the creator of the images in 2022 after another victim realised that a fake profile of herself was mutual friends with two women, including Ms Pellant, with similarly explicit profiles.
She located their real social media profiles and contacted them, which is when they realised they all had the same online stalker.
Ms Pellant said they only worked on one safeguarding case together as former colleagues before he moved away in 2014, leaving on 'good terms'.
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 photos of hundreds of women.
Bates served as a soldier for 15 years and was awarded the Northern Ireland medal before completing an educational conversion course in 2012.
A spokesman for Kent Police said: 'Kent Police carried out an extensive and thorough investigation into a report of online harassment which was received in February 2017.
'This included work by officers who specialise in online offences, analysis of communications data and international enquiries with internet organisations. The victim was kept updated throughout.
'After reviewing all the available evidence at the time, no suspect was identified and the investigation was filed in 2019 pending further lines of enquiry coming to light.
'In September 2022, new information was received in relation to the case, which was reopened and officers assisted when it was later transferred to another force, where further victims had been identified.
'We are pleased the case has now resulted in the offender being jailed for these terrible offences and we hope the sentence helps the victims as they continue to live with the long-term impact of these crimes.'
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