A swinger who used a neighbour’s saucy stolen pictures to set up a fake profile on a swingers’ website has been spared jail.

East Anglian Daily Times: Steven Britchfield's profileSteven Britchfield's profile

Felixstowe transport company manager Steven Britchfield even used the fictitious persona ‘Stow Slut’ to create a testimonial for his own profile on Fabswingers.com.

Ipswich magistrates sentenced Britchfield to a 12-month community order under which he must complete 160 hours’ unpaid work and is prohibited from contacting directly or indirectly Joanne Elliot, whose pictures he used.

Britchfield had previously admitted fraud by false representation and possessing images for use in a fraud. The case was adjourned for reports and he was told all options including custody were open.

After the 35-year-old’s sentencing Ms Elliot’s partner James Ward, who created his own fake profile to unmask Britchfield, said: “We are pleased with the sentence. It’s been tough for Joanne to say the least.

“It’s been pretty horrific for her. Hopefully we can now put this behind us.”

Nick Jennaway, representing Britchfield, of Graham Road, Felixstowe, told the court: “It’s an unusual case. This is by no means your standard fraud case.

“This kind of behaviour is not by any means something he’s done before.

“He essentially says it was just a rash decision. It was during quiet times at his work. He would go on to these type of websites. It snowballed and got out of control and he’s ended up before the court today for this.”

Britchfield used photos on a memory card belonging to Ms Elliot which had been stolen during a burglary in August 2010. A computer and dvds were also taken. However, no one was ever arrested for the break-in and it was previously made clear in court that Britchfield was adamant he did not commit the burglary.

He was caught after being duped by Mr Ward into thinking he was a female replying to Britchfield’s own profile under the persona ‘notlookingforlove’ on the swingers’ site.

Mr Ward turned detective after Ms Elliot was told by a friend in August last year that there were naked photos of her on fabswingers.com.

Mr Ward said: “He sent me a picture of himself in the bath and we thought ‘Oh my God – that’s our neighbour’.

“I created another profile of two lesbians from Essex under SR&TW Girliefun. We said we had videos but couldn’t e-mail them. We asked if he had ‘WhatsApp’ and he sent his personal phone number.”

Mr Ward then involved police.