It’s possible you may have missed disgraced reality star Stephen Bear’s guilty verdict back in December, given the mounting furore around Prince Harry’s memoir andAndrew Tate’s arrest in Romania.
Bear was convicted of voyeurism and two counts of disclosing private sexual photographs and films with intent to cause distress.
Georgia Harrison, Bear’s former girlfriend and the victim of his crimes, has now broken her silence on how the guilty verdict affected her after the week-long trial saw Bear turn up to court proceedings dressed as some kind of pantomime pimp, carrying a cane and smoking cigars.
Speaking to fellow feminist campaigners Emily Clarkson and Alex Light on their podcast Should I Delete That?, Georgia, who appeared on Love Island in 2018, said the delivery of the verdict felt like an ‘out of body’ experience.
‘It took a while to actually sink in that it was actually over,’ she said. ‘It was finally over. My truth had been confirmed. I always knew in my heart that that is what the verdict would be, but it was like an out of body experience. It took a while to sink in.
The charges first became public in 2020 when Georgia reported Bear to the police and waived her anonymity to empower other women to speak out. He was arrested in January 2021.
‘It was my absolute worst nightmare, like [my] world was caving in,’ she said of the ordeal.
‘It wasn't until later that evening that I saw him send it to someone on his phone that I actually realised the severity of the situation. I started hearing boys saying they'd seen it as well. And that's when I realised he hadn't just sent it to one person, who'd sent it to someone. He'd actually sold it. And it's like to think that you were in a situation with someone that you love and trust and you felt safe with, and the whole time they were just filming you to make money.’
While Bear has always plead not guilty to all charges brought against him, the twelve jurors were unanimous in their guilty verdict on both counts of sharing sexually explicit imagery without consent. Bear awaits sentencing, due to be handed down at the end of this month, and could face up to four years behind bars.