An angry boyfriend has told how he turned detective to discover a neighbour had used stolen photos of his partner to set up a profile on a swingers’ website
James Ward duped Steven Britchfield, of Graham Road, Felixstowe, into revealing he was the man behind the female profile seeking to meet other swingers.
The Felixstowe transport company manager used Joanne Elliot’s private photos on fabswingers.com under the profile Stow Slut.
The pictures had been stolen during a burglary in 2010. However, the thief was never found.
After being alerted to the photos being on the site Mr Ward said police originally told them there was nothing that could be done.
Mr Ward, 32, said: “I was angry. The first thing I did was approach the website, but there is no phone number you can contact, only an e-mail.
“I wanted to find out who would have put the pictures online.
“I did my own investigation. A work colleague gave me some pictures of herself and I created a profile.”
Mr Ward set up under the name ‘Upforfun x’ and got in contact with Britchfield’s alter ego of Stow Slut.
He also looked at links to other people who had contacted Stow Slut and noticed one called G Man.
Clicking on it led him to Britchfield’s own profile – notlookingforlove, on which was a self-written testimonial from Stow Slut.
Mr Ward said: “He sent me a picture of himself in the bath and we thought ‘Oh my God – that’s our neighbour’.
“I didn’t go and speak to him as I wanted to make the connection between him and this man.
“I created another profile of two lesbians from Essex under SR&TW Girliefun. We wanted to see the pics of Jo and said we had videos but couldn’t e-mail them. We asked he if he had ‘WhatsApp’ and he sent his personal phone number.”
Mr Ward then got the police involved. He praised the tenacity of Detective Constable Jamie Rose who helped bring Britchfield to justice.
He said: “He was exceptional. He wouldn’t give up.
“He was round here all the time supporting us and fought for us to get the case brought to court.”
Ipswich magistrates were told Britchfield set up Stow Slut in order to attract like-minded people for sex.
Britchfield admitted fraud by false representation and possessing images for use in a fraud.
The court was told Britchfield had accessed porn regularly and was a ‘picture hunter’ who was particularly interested in sexual activity.
It was said he used the photos of Miss Elliot as he believed it would attract more interest.
Nick Jennaway, representing Britchfield, said the operations manager used his company’s computer to access the site. During quiet periods at work he would browse the internet.
Mr Jennaway said: “He’s got carried away. It was a stupid mistake. He’s made this profile on the work computer and it’s been discovered.
“He does wish to apologise to Miss Elliot. He realises what he’s done has caused her a great deal of discomfort.”
Britchfield is now awaiting sentence and was told all custody options are open.
Britchfield’s victim Joanne Elliot, who lives four doors from him, said she is horrified by what he has done.
The 36-year-old nurse is eight-and-a-half months pregnant.
She said she is very concerned about the impact the photographs would have had on her work had they been seen by any of her patients.
In court magistrates were told what Britchfield had done had caused Miss Elliot a great deal of stress and worry.
She said: “I feel very embarrassed. I don’t know where else he might have posted them. They were my personal pictures and I still haven’t got them.
“They were private and only to be kept private. I would never put myself up on a website like that.
“They were my photos on my camera. They are not pornographic. Some of them are silly messing around-type photos, just of me in my bikini.
“It is horrible living near him because of what’s happened.
“I would just like to know why he did it.”
Miss Elliot said although she knew of Britchfield as they were neighbours and had seen him around Felixstowe he was not in her circle of friends.
She added: “It really disgusted me. When I found out I was in the early stages of pregnancy. It made me feel vulnerable.
“I was out with friends. I got a Facebook message from a friend who said ‘I’m sure I have just seen some photos of you on a website’.
“I got them to send the photos. I was in disbelief. I thought ‘Oh my God, I’m on fabswingers.com.
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