Jonathan Bates had worn many faces in life. A decorated veteran, a teacher, a husband—and, as it would turn out, a predator who waged a relentless online campaign of cruelty.
For eight years, Bates used his skills and meticulous nature not to serve or educate but to destroy the lives of women he once knew.
The case, which gripped headlines across the UK, ended with him behind bars for five years and silenced by a decade-long restraining order. But for his victims, the damage he left behind is not so easily contained.
Bates had spent 15 years in the British Army, stationed at RAF St Mawgan and had even been awarded the Northern Ireland medal for his service.
After leaving the forces, he reinvented himself as a teacher, completing a conversion course in 2012 and landing a post at St John’s Primary School in Canterbury.
Court records later noted that he suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder but judges were clear: his actions were calculated, malicious and not a byproduct of his mental health.
The Digital Terror Campaign Begins
It started quietly, sometime after Bates returned to Cornwall in 2015. He began targeting women from his own circles. His ex-wife, two colleagues at the school and even a woman he met only once at a funeral, The Telegraph reports.
The strategy was chillingly effective. Bates Photoshopped their faces onto explicit images of nude women, then uploaded them to pornographic sites. He built fake profiles that used their names, addresses, workplaces and phone numbers, leaving the women open to harassment from strangers.
Kirsty Pellant, the school’s head of safeguarding, was one of those targeted. In a victim statement, she shared how the campaign dismantled her career: “I’ve had to leave my job and my career, and the financial implications have been significant. This violation has been incredibly hurtful.”
The images spread quickly, resurfacing even after she had them removed. Parents whispered and speculated. Some even passed the images around, prompting the school to issue legal threats. By 2023, she was forced to resign.
Lives Upended
The judge who later sentenced Bates called his actions the worst he had ever seen. One woman was stalked for two years. Another altered her appearance, terrified of being recognized.
Many stopped going out at night altogether. “People were scared to go out of their homes,” Judge Simon Carr told the court. Bates had “gained pleasure from terrifying the women and destroying their lives.”
The psychological toll was devastating. One of the victims, who barely knew Bates, managed to piece together his identity by connecting with other women he had targeted, per Dailymail.
Together, they unraveled his web of harassment, leading police closer to the truth.
“I do not know what I have ever done to make him ruin my life,” one victim said in an impact statement read in court.
Breaking the Encryption
For years, Kent Police chased a ghost. Bates used sophisticated encryption tools to hide his tracks and investigators struggled to trace the profiles back to him.
But in 2022, a breakthrough came when victims’ combined efforts pointed to Bates. A raid on his home revealed nine USB drives loaded with explicit content, much of it linked to his victims.
Bates was charged with multiple counts of stalking, revenge pornography and the creation of fake online accounts.
In court, his lawyers leaned heavily on his PTSD diagnosis but the judge dismissed any suggestion that his military background excused his actions.
The Courtroom Reckoning
At Truro Crown Court, prosecutors laid bare the scale of Bates’s campaign. Stuart Allen described the profiles as “disgusting and explicit,” emphasizing how the images would remain online indefinitely, haunting the victims long after the trial.
Bates, at one point, even floated a flimsy claim that his computer had been hacked—a defense quickly dismantled by the overwhelming evidence.
Judge Carr handed down a five-year sentence and a 10-year restraining order, but his remarks were a stark reminder that no sentence could erase the harm: “This went on for years.”
“You have devastated the lives of these four women for your own entertainment and they will go to their graves knowing that there are images of them on the internet offering sexual services of an extreme nature,” Carr said, according to the New York Post.
For Pellant and the other women, the sentencing offered some closure but no real sense of safety. “The fact is that what’s put on the internet stays there… although I got most of it taken down, the images he created will stay there forever as a reminder of the pain he inflicted on his victims,” she said after the hearing.
Let’s take a closer look at the legal side of fake profiles and online impersonation.
What If Someone Creates Fake Profiles Using Your Photos — How to Protect Yourself Legally
Fake profiles aren’t just annoying anymore. They’re dangerous. In today’s world of endless scrolling and quick clicks, it takes only minutes for someone to steal your photos, make a fake account and start spreading lies or pretending to be you.
Maybe they want to embarrass you, maybe they’re scamming strangers or maybe they’re just being cruel. Whatever the reason, the harm feels personal and it’s real.
Victims often describe the experience as a nightmare that doesn’t stop, even when they close their laptops. These fake profiles can ruin reputations, cost jobs and lead to emotional breakdowns.
“It’s like they’re wearing your skin, but you can’t take it off them,” one victim told a reporter. And yet, the law can be surprisingly powerful if you know how to use it.
How Fake Profiles Work and Why They Hurt
Imagine waking up to find your own face staring back at you on a dating app but under a name you’ve never used. Or a Facebook profile full of photos you took years ago, now connected to strangers messaging your friends. This is what countless victims face daily.
Fake profiles are online accounts made to look like they belong to you but you never gave permission. They pop up everywhere—Instagram, Tinder, Twitter, even LinkedIn.
Sometimes, they’re harmless pranks. More often, they’re weapons. Some impersonators spread false rumors. Others catfish unsuspecting people for money. In the darkest cases, photos are altered to make victims look like they’re in explicit images.
The ease of setting up social media accounts is part of the problem. Most platforms don’t check IDs or verify identities. All it takes is your stolen picture and a few clicks and suddenly, a piece of you is living a second life you never agreed to.
The Laws That Protect You
Even though it feels like the wild west online, the law is catching up. In the U.S., there are federal and state rules that make this kind of behavior illegal.
The Identity Theft and Assumption Deterrence Act of 1998 is one of the big ones, it says it’s a federal crime to use someone else’s personal info without permission if the goal is to harm, defraud or deceive.
If someone makes a fake profile pretending to be you—especially to scam people—that’s identity theft. And yes, it comes with prison time.
Some states don’t mess around with this stuff. Like in Texas, there’s an actual law that says if you make a fake account pretending to be someone to mess with them or scam people, you can get fined or even go to jail.
California’s got the same vibe—do it to hurt someone and boom, it’s a crime. So yeah, stealing someone’s pics to make a fake profile isn’t just a dumb prank. It’s straight-up illegal.
When It Turns Into Stalking
There’s another level to this: straight-up harassment and stalking, if someone’s using a fake account to send threats, spy on what you’re doing or humiliate you, that’s cyberstalking or online harassment. And yeah, it’s against the law.
In many states, cyberstalking is a felony. Victims can ask for protective orders and if the situation gets bad enough, offenders can face serious charges. Law enforcement now treats digital threats as seriously as physical ones.
“It’s a nightmare that doesn’t stop at your front door,” one lawyer told The New York Times. “If someone is using fake profiles to control or terrorize you, the law is clear—they’re committing a crime.”
Beyond Criminal Charges: Civil Options
While pressing criminal charges can stop a stalker, civil lawsuits can help you recover from the damage. One big legal weapon here is defamation law. If someone uses a fake profile to post lies about you that hurt your reputation, you can sue for damages.
There’s also this thing called invasion of privacy and “appropriation of likeness,” which is just fancy talk for using your pics or identity without asking. If some fake account is messing with your money, ruining job chances, or just making your life awful, a judge can actually make that person pay up.
This is especially important because the internet has a long memory. Even when profiles are deleted, screenshots and reposts can follow victims for years. Judges understand that and lawsuits can force accountability.
Platforms Aren’t Powerless, but They’re Slow
Every major platform has rules against impersonation. Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and dating sites all have reporting systems that allow you to flag fake accounts. Most companies will remove a fake profile once you verify your identity.
But here’s the catch: they can’t always stop the person from making another one. They don’t have police powers and their investigations often take time. That’s why it’s critical to go beyond platform reports and collect evidence.
Take screenshots of everything: the profile, the messages, the comments, the followers list. If you decide to go to court or the police, this evidence is your lifeline.
Steps to Take Right Now
If someone has made a fake profile using your photos, here’s a step-by-step plan:
- Report it to the platform. Every social media site has a “report impersonation” option. Use it immediately.
- Gather evidence. Take screenshots of everything before the account is deleted.
- Involve the police. If the profile is threatening, stalking or scamming people, contact local law enforcement, they have cybercrime units trained for this.
- Talk to a lawyer. Get someone who knows internet and privacy laws, they can tell you if you can sue for harassment, defamation or people using your photos without asking.
- Consider a restraining order. If you know who’s behind the fake profile and they’re targeting you, this legal protection can stop them.
The Bigger Picture
The internet gives people endless opportunities to connect but it also gives abusers endless ways to hurt others. Fake profiles are one of the most common weapons used to humiliate, stalk or scam victims.
Still, victims aren’t powerless. Laws exist, platforms have tools and police treat these cases more seriously than ever.
As experts remind us, “The fact is that what’s put on the internet stays there… although I got most of it taken down, the images he created will stay there forever.”
It’s a sobering truth. But with evidence, legal help and persistence, you can fight back—and win.
