Having just joined her fellow contestants at the Love Island villa on Sunday, Zara McDermott has become the latest victim of an online revenge porn leak, with naked pictures and an explicit X-rated clip released by an ex-flame.
The lewd leaks were first circulated on the popular messaging app WhatsApp, before making their way online.
Those convicted of releasing revenge porn, defined as the "the sharing of private, sexual materials, either photos or videos, of another person without their consent and with the purpose of causing embarrassment or distress" by the Daily Telegraph, can carry up two years in prison in England and Wales, while the penalty in Scotland is five years.
A new campaign, launched by the North Yorkshire Police and Crime Commissioner Julia Mulligan aims to change the current laws on revenge porn, offering the same anonymity to victims as in sexual offense cases. The petition has so far reached over 15,000 signatures, and if implemented would stop media outlets naming victims, including the coverage of court cases.
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While the Ministry of Justice said it has no plans to extend automatic anonymity to revenge porn victims, it maintained that it keeps the law under constant review.
McDermott, who took a career break from serving as a policy advisor to Conservative MP and Education Secretary Damian Hinds in order be on the program, is likely to remain unaware of the exposé during her tenure in the Mallorcan party mansion, where contestants pair off into hetero-normative couples in a bid to share a cool £50,000.
As the show progresses, new hotties and beefcakes are added every week, or at the whim of its producers in a bid to test couples’ loyalties and shake up the pairings. Those left unmatched and heartbroken are kicked out of the house.
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Insiders close to the 21-year old former model/government policy wonk have been quick to inform The Sun that her family are “shocked and disappointed” at how someone could “breach her trust in this way”.
Upon McDermott’s introduction to the show on Sunday along with fellow newbie Ellie, the pair were quick to conspire against the 'territorial' original girls. Zara has since coupled up with hunk Adam Collard after connecting on a date, leaving Adam’s former flame Rosie Williams heartbroken.
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