Woman sentenced for sharing names of alleged sex abuse victims

Ann Marie Evans appeared before Sheffield Magistrates' Court on Monday

A woman has been spared a jail sentence after she admitted posting on social media the names of three women who were alleged victims of sexual abuse.

Ann Marie Evans, 27, of Goldthorpe near Barnsley, researched and tried to find photos of the women who had allegedly been sexually abused.

Evans wanted to "tell the world all about" the alleged victims, Sheffield Magistrates' Court heard.

She was handed a six-week prison sentence, suspended for 12 months.

Evans was also told to pay compensation to the three women, of £100 each, which would be deducted from her benefits, District Judge Naomi Redhouse said.

Evans took it upon herself to try and find the names of the alleged victims relating to the case, posting them as comments on public Facebook posts in June 2022.

Two of the three names she posted related to an Operation Stovewood case.

Victims of alleged sexual offences are granted life-long anonymity and cannot be named.

Evans admitted two counts of publishing comments which could identify a victim of a sex offence.

She also admitted two further counts under the Malicious Communications Act when she said she would publish photos of the victims and when she used racist language in a comment on another Facebook post.

'Shocked, upset and angry'

She pleaded guilty to all offences at the first opportunity, something the judge said would mean she avoided prison.

"The impact on the victims, on discovery, were them being shocked, upset and angry. Both described panicking," prosecuting barrister Liz Fell told the court.

The single mother asked Mr Walker to tell the court "she's not racist" relating to the abuse she wrote to a man on the social media platform.

Addressing Ms Evans, of Straight Lane, Goldthorpe, the judge told her she had drawn more attention to the case by posting online and could have prejudiced a trial with her comments.

She was also handed 60 hours of unpaid work but was told she would not have to pay court costs due to her financial position.