Selston woman posted private Facebook chats after suffering online abuse

Megan Hewitt accessed the account after its owner saved her log-in details on a work computer at Selston Equestrian Centre, in January and February last year, said prosecutor Catherine Wilson.

Even after the password was changed Hewitt continued to post screenshots of hundreds of private comments and as a result her victim was suspended from CHAPS UK (The Coloured Horse and Pony Society) and banned from competing.

“I had people messaging and talking about me,” she said in a statement. “There were rumours of debt. I was afraid of people saying anything to me.”

She said she was “so distraught she thought about chucking herself off a motorway bridge,” Ms Wilson said, and was “immense guilty” because the other members had their private communications intercepted.

"Three other members of the group chat corroborated the first complainant's account,” Ms Wilson said.

When Hewitt, of previous good character, was interviewed by police she said “there were two sides to the story”, and refused to accept a caution.

Her solicitor said: “Not a single thing that the victim has said is accepted by my client.”

He said the private chats contained “vile, malicious and bullying” abuse of Hewitt, including photos of her being followed, and she contacted the police over ten times “to get them to do something about it”.

Her solicitor said members of the group made false claims about Hewitt to DEFRA and the RSPCA.

“She committed an offence to get the truth out,” he said. “She suffered extreme provocation. She can no longer take income from her business.

"These people have near enough destroyed her as a consequence of what they were posting. The impact has been massive. The victim and her friends have achieved what they wanted to achieve.”

He told the magistrates: “Your punishment will last for a finite period, her good character is gone forever.”

Hewitt, aged 28, of Commonside, Selston, admitted causing a computer to secure/enable unauthorised access to a program/data, when she appeared at Mansfield Magistrates Court on August 22.

On Tuesday she received a 12-month conditional discharge and was ordered to pay a £22 surcharge and £85 costs.