Man sentenced for secretly filming Grindr hook-up and uploading it to adult film site
A gay man has been ordered to pay compensation, after uploading a video of his hook-up with a closeted man victim online.
44-year-old PR manager Matthew Christian, of London, had met his victim, who was still in the closet, on an online gay dating app.
The pair, who had chatted on Grindr, met up for hook-ups three times in 2015.
However, without the knowledge of his victim, Christian secretly filmed one of the encounters, and uploaded it to amateur porn website XTube.
LONDON, ENGLAND – NOVEMBER 24: The “Grindr” app logo is seen on a mobile phone screen on November 24, 2016 in London, England. Following a number of deaths linked to the use of anonymous online dating apps, the police have warned users to be aware of the risks involved, following the growth in the scale of violence and sexual assaults linked to their use. (Photo by Leon Neal/Getty Images)
The clip was viewed more than 150,000 times before it was pulled down, but pirated copies have quickly circulated across a string of online sites.
The victim, who cannot be named for legal reasons, was in the closet at the time, only found out about the clip months later, when one of his friends noticed the clip and sent it to him.
The man, who was in the closet at the time, begged Christian to take it down, but he refused. The video was eventually pulled from the site, but not before copies of it spread like wildfire.
Christian was handed a suspended sentence and community service in a hearing at Wood Green Crown Court, after pleading guilty to a charge of voyeurism.
He was handed a 22-week sentence, suspended for 12 months, and ordered pay £1,500 in compensation plus £435 costs .
The London man was also ordered to undertake 200 hours of community service and attend a 20-day rehab programme.
According to the Mail, Judge Joanna Greenberg QC said: “The private lives of each and every one of us is something that we are entitled to have respected.
“In your case you abused the trust placed in you by the victim because he expected that his privacy would be respected.
“His private life was not something he had revealed to his family. It was his choice when and how he revealed it.
“I’m in no doubt that you knew the victim’s family were unaware of his sexuality. Your conduct exposed him to something like 150,000 viewers.
“It’s of note that he was visible but you were not easily identifiable.
“Everyone knows and I am sure you knew that once something is out in cyber space it is there for ever. You allowed that film to be available to anyone and everyone by placing it on the internet.
“What you did was a cruel and wicked thing to do.”
