Photo of husband posted on Facebook group with allegation - legalities?

[Hattie24]

Earlier I was alerted to a post by a woman on our town’s community Facebook page. It is a rant about a flat in her block being used by a group of prostitutes which is causing issues at unsociable hours and how the landlord isn’t doing anything about it. Under this there are photos of various men at the entrance of the block of flats and one of them is my husband. The insinuation is that these have all been visiting that flat.

I want to know the legalities of this woman posting such an allegation as she is outright refusing to remove the post. It is obviously extremely humiliating for me (friends and no doubt colleagues have seen it) and there’s so many comments underneath. We’ve been on a ‘break’ due to various issues but still living together and haven’t been intimate for nearly a year so I don’t need a lecture on how I shouldn’t have married such a man.

Is it me or is someone putting up a post like this without any thought for the consequences on various families etc utterly disgusting?

I'm not triggered by anything merely pointing out posting malicious crap on sm is not ok.

A group of 4 women who change every fortnight - to me it seems 100% clear that this particular flat is being used by (probably trafficked) prostitutes, @Hattie24.

Imagine living with a constant stream of men coming in and out to visit these women - the sort of men who think a woman’s body is something a man has a right to buy, the sort of men who don’t give a shit that these women are often trafficked and forced into prostitution - and then ask yourself if you would want this happening on YOUR doorstep.

I do not blame this woman and her neighbours for taking direct action. I just wish the police would do more to protect the women who are being g trafficked, and the people who have to live in close proximity to this vile trade - and it is the traffickers and pimps I blame for the vile trade, not the women.

Why would you suggest to anyone that they spend money on a lawyer to tell him that although he was seen outside a building no one has implied that he entered it, never mind visited a particular flat in the building?

Well, you're getting very worked up about a woman who doesn't want to live next to prostitutes or have dreadful men sliming around her home.

No reason at all to think it is either malicious or crap, so as nobody knows anything I will assume the OP is correct in her assumption that there are indeed prostitutes in that building, based on the comments from other people as the OP stated who have pointed out there are a group of 3/4 girls being rotated constantly who barely speak English and the fact that the woman who posted it lives there and has back up from other residents.

It would be a massive stretch to try to pretend that the poster, the other residents and the other commenters are all making it up and being malicious, and if they are the men can sue the whole lot of them for defamation.

There's nothing the OP can do about it anyway as she is not in the photo. If her husband is innocent, he can sort it. If not, then great he deserves it.

Because I am a lawyer specialising in this branch of law and based on what OP has said (I haven’t seen the original post) this is actionable!

Oh dear, as a, cough cough, lawyer you would know for an absolute certainty that it is only actionable if the accusation is untrue.

If they are prostitute users there is not a damn thing they can do about it because truth is an absolute defence in UK law.

But sure, if it is untrue they can go for defamation. My guess - they will do nothing and find a different brothel.

FFS - as I’ve said multiple times…

it’s actionable as a misuse of private information whether it’s true or not.

it’s also defamatory and therefore actionable as a libel but there is a defence of truth. But the onus is on the poster to prove it’s true and it seems very unlikely the poster could provide any evidence it’s true. There is not a no smoke without fire presumption when it comes to establishing a truth defence in a libel claim.

Are you always this stubborn about things you know very little about?

If you specialise in this branch of law surely you know full well that whether or not this is actionable depends on whether or not he was, in fact, visiting a prostitute.

Whether the husband succeeds or not depends on whether the person who posted it can prove it’s true. But it is actionable and the husband is entitled to make her prove it. Which she almost certainly can’t.

Legally, anyone in the UK can photograph people in public places without their consent. This includes streets, parks, and public events. The absence of a specific privacy right in these public settings means that individuals are generally deemed to have a reduced expectation of privacy while in public. These photographs can generally be used for personal, editorial, artistic, and journalistic purposes without needing the consent of the people in the images. However, the use of these photos for commercial purposes would require consent.

But as a, cough cough, lawyer, you would know that 😅

And you haven't the tiniest clue how much proof the woman who posted this photo has, sounds like she has witnesses at the very least.

Additionally, to prevail in a defamation lawsuit, a plaintiff must prove that the defendant made a false and defamatory statement about the plaintiff that was communicated to a third party.

Are you always this much of a fantasist😆

The post hasn't been removed, the estranged husband seems more concerned with getting his 'physio friend' to provide him with an alibi, and OP is enjoying calling the neighbour names rather than looking closer to home. There will be no legal undertaking here.

Pot? Kettle? 🙄

Spot on. They were caught fair and square and they are going to say nothing, hope nobody catches on, deny deny deny and find a different brothel.

I have to go and won't be checking this thread again as it is getting repetitive. So, if you reply to me to try to argue, just imagine me repeating my earlier comments over and over until you finally give up 😇

I won't wish you good luck OP because honestly it sounds like the two of you deserve one another. I do wish the woman on Facebook outing the slimy sleazers the very best of British luck though. We need more like her.

If the husband was shagging a prostitute he would be ill advised to spend thousands on a defamation case and no sensible lawyer would encourage him to.

There may well be evidence available. Based on this thread the most likely scenario is that he was seeing a prostitute and if that is the case there was no defamation

They cannot however publish details of the person’s sexual activities and that’s what’s actionable here under misuse of private information. .

As the OP has seen the post and various people have commented on it there is proof of publication to a third party.

not a cough cough lawyer at all. Just a real one. Unlike you I suspect.

He’s is abusing women who are almost certainly trafficked - he is in no way a good man

Got what wrong? The sex workers actually existing or your DH being there, or both?

Is your husband doing anything about the post or is it just you who is bothered?

How disturbing that you are expending energy trying to cover up your husband’s misdeeds. Why are you fighting this battle for him? Why aren’t you more concerned that he’s been sexually exploiting vulnerable women? Attacking the woman who has brought light to this by calling her a Karen 🤦🏼‍♀️ Where is your dignity?

You're angry at the wrong person. It's your husband who has decided to destroy his family, not the woman who posted the photo.

If you don't believe him, people you know have seen the pictures and you are concerned about your reputation I would be inclined to post some thing like this on your Facebook.

"You may be aware of certain photos on social media. No woman should ever be forced into sex work and no decent man would use their services. Beyondthestreets.org.uk is a UK charity fighting to end sexual exploitation and support sex workers to find ways out of this work. If you are in a position to do so it is a great cause to support."

No… the family is suffering the consequences of his shitty behaviour. If he wasn’t there to begin with this wouldn’t be a problem.

Do only men use this "physio" then?

And why hasn't the male "physio" posted on FB to say "I live here, these are my clients who come for physio, please remove these pictures ".