deliberate cruelty

Catfish who outed man by sending x-rated pics & videos to his mom tells judge she “wasn’t thinking”

A woman from the UK who catfished a man on a gay dating app and then outed him to his family in the more horrendous way imaginable told a court this week that she’s not a bad person, she “simply wasn’t thinking in her normal, logical and sensible way.”

Lucinda Pollitt, who clearly has too much time on her hands despite having three young children to care for, created a fake profile on the dating website “FabGuys” to connect with the man and trick him into sending her private photos, which she then forwarded to… his mom?!?

According to court records, after earning the man’s trust, the 30-year-old mother of three turned the tables on him by saying she was going to out him to his family.

“You’ll do well to remember what I have on you,” she wrote. “I have kept my mouth shut to hide what and who you really are.”

She also called him homophobic slurs and threatened to share videos of him in sexual situations, including one recorded at a gay bathhouse.

This went on from August 2021 until March 2023, when Pollitt kicked her cruely up a notch and tracked down the man’s mother then told her that her son was bisexual.

“If you don’t believe me, make a profile on FabGuys and click ‘near me’ when he’s in the house,” she wrote in a text message obtained by police.

After the man’s mother confronted him, he suffered an anxiety attack and attempted to take his own life.

This week at Liverpool Crown Court, Pollitt pleaded guilty to two counts of disclosing or threatening to disclose private sexual images and one count of malicious communications.

In a victim’s statement, the man told the court: “At the time I was not ready to come out as bisexual as I didn’t feel comfortable doing so. It was a struggle to come to terms with my sexuality. Due to what Pollitt has done, I never had the chance to come out in my own time on my own terms, which is something she has taken from me.”

Meanwhile, Pollitt’s attorney, Kate Morley, said, prior to all this, she had an “unblemished criminal record.”

“She’s devastated to be appearing in crown court for to first time in her life,” Morely argued. “She simply wasn’t thinking in her normal, logical and sensible way, and that was exacerbated by having to look after three children.”

Blaming the children? Really?!

Morely went on to say that, since her arrest, Pollitt hasn’t repeated the behavior and feels tremendous “shame and embarrassment at being arrested, interviewed and put before a court.”

However, Morely neglected to say whether her client feels shame and embarrassment for what she actually did: catfishing and outing a complete stranger and sending a mother x-rated content of her own son.

During sentencing, Judge Katherine Pierpoint chided Pollitt for being a homophobe who engaged in a year-and-a-half-long bullying campaign against someone with mental health issues for no apparent reason and then tormenting the poor guy’s mother.

“This wasn’t just a one off incident,” Pierpoint chided. “This was behavior which continued for a significant period of time. This was an offense which was motivated by hostility towards sexual orientation, and that’s clear due to the language used.”

“The sharing of personal sexual images without consent intending to cause distress is a serious matter, as is threatening to do so,” she continued. “The sharing of these pictures with his mother was nasty, unnecessary and designed to cause distress and hurt, which you did.”

Pierpoint continued by saying Pollitt’s actions contributed to the man’s “already unstable mental health and [caused] it to decline.”

“He ended up making an attempt on his own life. He didn’t feel ready, at the time, to come out as being bisexual and you have taken away his own right to come out in his own time.”

Pollitt was sentenced to 12 months in prison, suspended for 12 months. She was also ordered to spend 20 days in rehab and a restraining order was issued against her barring her contacting the man for 15 years.

But perhaps the biggest punishment is that one day, when her children are older, they’re going to Google their mother’s name and learn what she did and who she blamed.

“I hope you feel some element of shame for what you have done,” Pierpoint said, calling Pollitt’s behavior “completely wrong and unjustifiable.”

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