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?

It’s not about him. It’s his family who will suffer the consequences of the post.
I think this is misplaced. He’s using an illegal brothel & it’s causing an annoyance to the local community. Any consequences experienced by his family are DH fault, not the posters. Just like the poster and their family are already suffering in what’s meant to be their home.

He says he was seeing a physio for treatment of a muscle injury linked to his rugby playing.
Sure he is. Sounds legit.

I’m sorry for you and your children that their dad is someone who uses prostitutes. How utterly mortifying. Your poor children.

£10k to £30k to bring a libel action in a case like this however you be very unlikely to win it.

divorce would be much cheaper.

and report it repeatedly to Facebook

that’s about it really.

no one is judging you. Just him. Although some will feel sorry for you.

It is not illegal, , feel free to share the details of the law

Whilst I really feel for the position you are in and the embarrassment and worry you must feel for your family, I too believe your energies are being misplaced. You’re the one on Facebook trying to report the post, you’re the one messaging on a forum trying to establish the legalities of it all. And where is your husband? Out at the pub with his mates after having copped out with a shit story about physio and the basis that “he’s not on Facebook so can’t address it”…if I found out I’d been photographed in those circumstances I’d be joining Facebook pronto so I could try to see what was what and to try to deal with it myself. Especially if my part it in all really was as innocent as he is claiming. He’s not embarrassed enough to not show his face down at his local, is he? Leave him to it; his shame is not yours to bear. His mess to sort, not yours.

Yeah, I think she’s more worried about her children at the moment tbf.

@Boddica2000

For once and for all it is completely and totally legal for her to post these pictures. No idea why people would pretend otherwise when a quick search will find the answer for you.

Tough to say for certain with the information provided, but this behavior may meet the threshold for harassment under UK law, which is a criminal offense rather than a civil matter.

The act of taking/publishing an image of someone in a public place isn't the issue, it's the intent behind doing so. For example, if it was done to deliberately cause alarm, distress, offence, hostility, to intimidate or degrade.

"A quick search" is not always the best way to understand something, especially the law, which is often deliberately broad in scope.

@simsbustinoutmimi

Yes, it’s illegal and would be considered harassment by police.

Possibly, possibly not. To qualify as harassment, the unwanted behavior usually has to have occurred more than once. If these pictures have been posted more than once, eg in another group or on the woman's own page, or she has repeated the accusations in the comments or via DM, that may qualify the behavior as harassment.

A single incident can sometimes be sufficient, but it would have to be extremely egregious and have a serious impact on the victim. I'm not sure whether this would clear that barrier or not.

Your emotional energy for this is misplaced and you have a VERY low bar. Get rid.

She is not the problem here. Your prostitute visiting husband is.
she is not the one putting your family at risk - he is by his actions.

@Hattie24

"Poor men, doing something ethically wrong and using women's bodies like commodities - their reputation is ruined!"

🙄🙄🙄🙄🙄🙄🙄

The club will have the booking info and payment details…..

Presumably like many other people, the marriage is in trouble and they're trialling a separation. Just different terminology that's all.

The OP has made it very clear that she doesn't believe him, nor that she is defending his actions. Just asking about the situation around public 'outings' like this and the impact on the innocent family.

Or all those people at Glastonbury…? Thousands of them all over the TV, recorded to be watched several times over,

Can anyone really be this deluded? Maybe he should have thought of that. Be angry with him for the consequences. Not the woman exposing his behaviour.

Your husband is using women/a woman for sex

He has been found out and his photo posted publicly

From what I understand you, OP, are annoyed about this post because you and your husband are pretending that you are still together in your marriage, and therefore his use of sex workers reflects badly on you, personally

You can suck this up and continue to lie
You can tell the truth about your marriage
You can tell the truth on Facebook or even on that particular Facebook post

I think your anger at the photo taker is misplaced. And your legal knowledge is limited

I think your husband is yuk and the sex worker is doing a job

Good for the people living at the block of flats.

I do feel for the families but all the blame lies on the men visiting the prostitute.

Yes, it’s illegal and would be considered harassment by police.
Possibly, possibly not.

I'm going with not. The block residents aren't following these men around or trying to catch them en flagrante. They're sharing photos of men who arrive outside their block and leave an hour later. They could stick a public webcam up; that wouldn't be harassment, so it's hard to believe taking photos out of their own windows would be.

See my previous posts - it's not the act of taking the photo that qualifies as harassment, it's their intent when publishing it.

Physio for his dick maybe

Aka a hand job

It's possible to be angry at both, no?

@Cheesystickillegal? What part is illegal?

He’s not going to spend £20,000 taking this to court when the reality is he IS using prostitutes there Op.

Haha no one is going to a sex worker for a hand job!

😂😂😂😂

Reminds me of the thread awhile back where the husband admitted he had been going to a sex club but hadn’t done anything, he just liked the sauna there!