Waltham Forest Man Jailed over Revenge Porn and Stalking Campaign

A man has been jailed for 21 months for distributing sexually explicit material of an ex-girlfriend. Cem Kucukbalaban, 21 of Sinclair Road, Waltham Forest was found guilty at Wood Green Crown Court on Thursday, 26 October, of disclosing private sexual photographs with intent to cause distress, stalking and harassment. He appeared for sentencing at the same court on Tuesday, 28 November For harassment and stalking he was sentenced to 18 months in prison; each count to run concurrently, For disclosing private sexual photographs with intent to cause distress he was sentenced to 3 months to run consecutively with the above sentences He was also made subject to a Sexual Harm Prevention Order for an indefinite period and a destruction order was issued to destroy the devices he used in the commission of the offence Following the break-up of a three month relationship, Kucukbalaban started to leave messages for the victim and would follow her on her way home. He then set up a fictitious Instagram account under her name and posted sexually explicit images of her on the site, which he obtained after using software to unknowingly record the victim without her knowledge on a video call. The victim reported the stalking and harassment in March this year. Detectives from the Enfield Community Safety Unit arrested Kucukbalaban on 30 March and found messages, screen shots and images on his mobile phone of the victim used to set up the fictitious Instagram account. DI Pete Dyche of Enfield CID, said: “Kucukbalaban carried out a sustained and spiteful campaign of abuse against a vulnerable victim of domestic abuse and clearly intended to cause the victim great distress and fear. I hope that today’s sentence allows her a measure of comfort that enables her to move on with her life.”