Two sisters destroyed their own lives by posting naked photos of their father’s mistress on an escort website; one faces jail and the other is fired from her police job in disgrace.
Eleanor and Sophie Brown had hatched a plan to humiliate the woman their father Geoff had cheated on their mother with a decade earlier.
The two sisters conspired to post private intimate photographs of the woman on an escort website, adding her husband’s phone number, resulting in him receiving calls from men.
Eleanor, 24, known as Ellie, now faces an “almost inevitable” prison sentence after admitting disclosing private photographs without consent midway through her trial at Leeds Crown Court.
In April, Sophie was banned from policing for life after resigning in disgrace over her role in the plot.
Eleanor and Sophie Brown, pictured with their mother Sarah. The two girls posted naked photos of their father’s mistress on an escort website.
The girls posted the photos after discovering their father Geoff (pictured) had an affair with the woman almost a decade ago.
At the family home in Wetherby, West Yorkshire, yesterday, a shaken Geoff Brown, 61, who is still with his wife Sarah, 57, declined to comment when contacted by MailOnline.
Last week, the court heard that Ellie Brown, from Morley, near Leeds, uploaded the photos to the website in 2022 along with the phone number of her ex-lover’s husband so people could get in touch.
Her actions affected her husband’s business and caused the woman to feel “a deep and sickening feeling of total panic”, a court heard.
Jurors were told her father had an affair with the woman more than 10 years ago while the two were married.
The affair was revealed in 2015 when Sarah Brown discovered intimate photos and videos the woman had shared with her husband during their affair.
But it was seven years later, between August and September 2022, that Ellie Brown posted “derogatory comments” about the woman on her husband’s business website.
He then sent her intimate images of his wife via WhatsApp and posted the woman’s photos on the escort website, resulting in her husband being bombarded with calls and messages.
Prosecutors said it was “a mean-spirited and calculated effort to cause distress in an act of revenge.”
Brown even attacked the couple’s daughter, who knew nothing of her mother’s infidelity, telling her: “I will make sure your mother is never allowed to forget what she did to my family.”
From the witness stand, the woman said she felt “a deep, sickening feeling of absolute panic” when she discovered sexual images of her had been posted on the internet.
Her husband told the court he could understand why the sisters were “frustrated” by what had happened, but added that he could not understand why they were “obstinate” in trying to damage the business he ran.
Brown had denied two charges of sharing private sexual photographs without consent but changed his plea to guilty just before he was due to give evidence in his own defence in the second week of the trial.
Judge Alexander Menary said his plea came “at the last minute and 59 minutes.”
Adjourning the hearing ahead of sentencing next month, he said it was “almost inevitable” she would go to prison “due to the nature of the offending and its persistence”.
She was granted bail ahead of the hearing and as she prepares to go to prison, her sister is trying to forge a new career after being found guilty of gross misconduct by West Yorkshire Police.
Sophie Brown has resigned from her job as a patrol officer after her and her sister’s actions were reported by the distraught couple who were “bullying and harassing”.
Geoff Brown is still with his wife Sarah after having an affair with a married woman more than 10 years ago. Pictured: Geoff and Sarah Brown in India
Ellie and Sophie Brown, pictured here with their mother Sarah, engaged in a campaign of “bullying and harassment”, Leeds Crown Court was told.
A disciplinary hearing in April found she would have been fired had she not resigned, but a legal ruling meant the decision could not be announced until after Ellie Brown’s trial.
Sophie Brown’s disciplinary hearing was told she encouraged her sister to post explicit photos in an “act of revenge”.
The hearing heard that between August 27 and September 8, 2022, the sisters had engaged in a campaign of “intimidation and harassment.”
Messages between the sisters showed how they had initially planned to create a profile of the victim on the website Gumtree, where they intended to post the nude photos and advertise sexual services for £5.
They then switched their conversations to using an escort site and added the woman’s husband’s phone number to the profile.
Sophie Brown admitted to exchanging messages with her sister, but denied creating the profile herself.
The panel heard that while many of the actions were carried out by Ellie Brown, they had been “initiated and encouraged” by Sophie.
Police Federation representative Sergeant Luke Stead told the misconduct hearing that the incidents had happened over a short period and the family had been under stress at the time.
Sophie Brown, who interrupted the proceedings on several occasions, said: “It wasn’t revenge. We were making fun of her for the photos she had sent to my father.”
She was found guilty of gross misconduct but acquitted of an unrelated charge of racial discrimination, although she had admitted using a racially offensive slur in telephone messages to her sister on multiple occasions.
Panel chairman Andrew Clemes said the messages exchanged were “offensive and derogatory” but the context was “not clear”.
The hearing was told that Sophie Brown had resigned from West Yorkshire Police after the allegations came to light, having served in the force for only a short period of time.
The misconduct panel ruled that she would have been fired from the force if she were still in service.
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