LONDON – A court in eastern England on March 19 became the first in Britain to jail someone for a new cyber-flashing offence, sentencing a convicted sex offender to 66 weeks in prison.

A judge at Southend Crown Court handed Nicholas Hawkes, 39, the jail term after he previously admitted to the newly designated offence at an earlier appearance.

Cyber-flashing, which can involve offenders sending people an unsolicited sexual image on social media, dating apps or by other electronic communication, became a crime in England and Wales on Jan 31.

It was part of the government’s Online Safety Act.

Hawkes, from Basildon, east of London, pleaded guilty to two counts of sending a photograph or film of his genitals to cause alarm, distress or humiliation.

He admitted to sending unsolicited images to a 15-year-old girl and a woman on Feb 9.

The woman took screenshots of the photograph on WhatsApp and reported him to the police the same day.

Hawkes was already on the sex offenders register after a conviction in 2023 of sexual activity with a child under 16 years old and exposure, for which he also received a community order.

On March 19, he also pleaded guilty to breaching that order and breaching a suspended sentence for another sexual offence.

Victims of the new cyber-flashing offence and other image-based abuses have lifelong anonymity from the moment they report it under the Sexual Offences Act. AFP