Love Island star Georgia Harrison has opened up on the impact of convicted sex offender Stephen Bear being released from prison after bravely waiving her right to anonymity
Love Islander Georgia Harrison fears ever seeing convicted sex offender and disgraced reality star Stephen Bear again after he was released from prison.
Bear made over £22,000 from sharing a secret clip of him and Georgia having sex on OnlyFans. She decided waive her right to anonymity to raise awareness of this type of crime. He was released from prison in January this year after serving just 10 and a half months of his 21-month sentence.
Bear was found guilty of voyeurism and disclosing private, sexual photographs and films. Georgia rose to fame on The Only Way Is Essex in 2014 and joined Love Island in 2017. A court ruled Bear had to pay Georgia £207,900 in damages, which is the highest amount ever awarded in an image abuse case. He was also ordered to pay an extra £27,000 for compensation and repay profits he’d made from the video.
During the sentencing, Bear was also slapped with a restraining order and told not to contact Georgia for five years. He must also keep police informed of his whereabouts for an entire decade. Georgia has since opened up on her experience, admitting she fears seeing him again. “If I walked past him, my heart would drop, but I don’t ever feel like I’d have to worry about him approaching me,” she told the Sun. “I have a [five-year] restraining order, but I want it lengthened.”
Knowing the footage is still online has affected Georgia and her love life. She has been single since splitting from Anton Danyluk in May, after they met on Love Island All Stars. Georgia fears the people she dates will have seen the video, admitting it is something she “struggles with” but insisted it hasn’t made her lose trust in men.
She hopes to meet somebody who will be “understanding” about it, which is one of her reasons for working to change the law. “I’d like to think that one day, I could live in a world where I don’t have to worry about my husband seeing this,” she explained. “Hopefully one day I will have kids, and that’s my biggest fear – them finding it.”
Speaking in court in March, Georgia recalled how the footage being published without her consent impacted her life and career. She said: “I had to live in fear that this was going to come out and my family were going to know about it. It was just like the worst feeling you can ever possibly imagine. I felt violated, I felt embarrassed – I hated myself for a really long time.”
Judge Christopher Morgan said the victim, Georgia, lost work opportunities from multiple brands and was forced to pay legal fees due to the disgraced reality star’s illegal conduct. He added that Bear posting the CCTV footage had a “devastating” impact on her life.
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