A ‘vindictive’ woman was jailed for three years today for posting naked photos of her father’s former mistress on an escort website in a campaign to publicly humiliate her.
Eleanor Brown, 24 – aided by her mother and sister, who were also a serving and former police officer – broadcast intimate sexual images and videos of her dad Geoff’s former lover.
The affair between retired cop Geoff Brown, 61, and the woman had devastating consequences after it came back to haunt them 12 years after it ended.
Geoff’s wife Sarah, 57, still held a burning resentment for the woman who almost destroyed her marriage and in 2022 she sent sexual images of the mistress to her daughter.
Eleanor Brown then began bombarding the woman’s husband with the photographs and also set up a profile on a sex for sale site called Beaver Street.
The advert offered sexual services and included pictures of the mistress.
She included the number of the woman’s husband who received 14 texts and eight calls from prospective clients in the space of half an hour of the ad being posted.
Both families have been shattered by the repercussions of the affair.
Eleanor Brown is now in prison and her sister Sophie, 26, has been sacked by West Yorkshire Police where she was a patrol officer.
Now both families are picking up the pieces, after a fling that both couples appeared to have survived suddenly erupted back into their lives.
In a victim statement, the former mistress – who cannot be identified for legal reasons – told of her devastation.
She said: ‘If you have ever felt so upset you are constantly nauseous and anxious you will know how I felt.
‘I still recall the moment my husband told me what she had done, the look of panic and upset on his face as he revealed the extent of her actions.
‘I was unable to stop the nightmare of my intimate pictures being shared with anyone and everyone.
‘They were my pictures and she shared them with unnamed people for their sexual gratification.
‘My pictures being used by strangers sickened me and I find it hard to believe that one woman would do this to another woman. To say I felt violated is an understatement.
‘The thought of her control over me causes me anxiety and the hate she harboured for me over the years is very evident.’
The court heard that Eleanor Brown had known of the affair since she was a child and over the years had turned her father’s lover – who she never met – into a ‘caricature.’
Harry Crowson, mitigating, said the Brown family did not discuss Geoff’s infidelity with her or try to support her. Instead, he said, she was ‘shouted down and lied to.’
The simmering resentment over the torrid fling exploded back into life when Sarah Brown discovered the mistress’s husband had set up a new business, advertising on Facebook.
The court heard that she pointed out the post on Facebook and also sent her the sexual images.
Egged on by her mother and sister, who played a part in the planning, Eleanor Brown began bombarding the business page with messages.
Prosecutor Lucy Brown said: ‘The business was doing well and gaining positive reviews but on August 27th 2022 Eleanor Brown posted a message on the profile calling his wife a home-wrecking s**g and a tramp.’
She later messaged him on WhatsApp and sent him the listing on the Beaver Street sex site.
She even sent him a link to the Celine Dion song ‘It’s All Coming Back To Me Now,’ a reference to his wife’s affair.
Ms Brown said: ‘In desperation the husband tried to contact Geoff Brown, which given the background he had no particular desire to do.
‘He tried calling and texted Mr Brown, who was on holiday abroad with his wife at the time.
‘Eleanor Brown was made aware of the contact in a number of WhatsApp messages from Sarah Brown.’
It had no effect on Eleanor Brown and she next decided to contact the couple’s daughter.
Lucy Brown told the court: ‘In that message Eleanor Brown said ‘I will make sure your mum is never allowed to forget what she did to my family and wherever she goes her photos will remain and follow her.”
Judge Alex Menary did not diminish the role of former police officer Sarah Brown in the case, who was sacked in a police disciplinary hearing by West Yorkshire Police in April.
Judge Menary said: ‘You conspired with your sister and mother to create the Beaver Street advert.’
He also acknowledged Sarah Brown sent Eleanor the sexual images, saying: ‘There is clear evidence she wanted you to use them in some way.’
Mr Crowson, for Brown, said: ‘She discovered the affair and rather than being supported and nurtured she was shouted down and lied to.
Over the years (the mistress) existed in a bubble and she became almost a caricature, someone she knew nothing of other than that which she was told.
‘She became a warrior in a war she ought not to have even been fighting.’
He said she acted on her trauma whilst drinking, adding: ‘She was egged on by two family members who were a police officer and a former police officer and yet she sits in the dock alone.’
Brown had originally denied two counts of disclosing private sexual imagery, but changed her plea to guilty halfway through her trial last month.
Judge Menary gave her no credit for her guilty pleas because she indulged in the ‘ultimate act of brinkmanship’ by forcing her victims to give evidence.
He said: ‘You maximised their humiliation by forcing them to come to court to give evidence in front of a room full of strangers and the public gallery.’
Judge Menary said: ‘One of the most egregious and vindictive aspects of this case is that you took the time to draft a lengthy and vitriolic message to their daughter. You sought to drag her into your unhappy existence which was shameful.’
Her actions led the couple to disclose the woman’s affair for the first time. He jailed her for three years, saying she’d shown a ‘staggering’ lack of remorse and and exhibited ‘vindictive, selfish and vengeful behaviour’.
He said: ‘You were arrested and interviewed and were utterly unapologetic. The lack of remorse you showed was staggering. Acting in the way you have is totally devoid of any moral compass whatsoever.’
