Sisters post photos of dad's mistress on escort site but it backfires

by · Mail Online

Two sisters have destroyed their own lives by posting naked photos of their father's mistress on an escort website - with one facing jail and the other fired from her police job in disgrace.

Eleanor and Sophie Brown had hatched a plan to humiliate the woman with whom their father Geoff had cheated on their mother a decade earlier.

The two sisters colluded in posting private intimate pictures of the woman on an escort website, adding her husband's phone number, which resulted in him receiving calls from men.

Eleanor, 24 - known as Ellie - is now facing an 'almost inevitable' prison sentence after she admitted disclosing private photographs without consent midway through her trial at Leeds Crown Court.

In April, Sophie was barred from policing for life after resigning in disgrace at her part in the plot.

Eleanor and Sophie Brown, pictured here with their mother Sarah. The two girls posted naked photos of their father's mistress on an escort website
The girls posted the photos after finding out their father Geoff (pictured) had an affair with the woman nearly a decade ago

Yesterday at the family home in Wetherby, West Yorkshire, a shaken Geoff Brown, 61, who is still with his wife Sarah, 57, declined to comment when approached by MailOnline.

Last week the court heard Ellie Brown, of Morley, near Leeds, uploaded the photos to the website in 2022 along with the phone number of the former mistress's husband for people to contact.

Their actions affected her husband's business and caused the woman 'a deep, sickening feeling of complete panic,' a court heard.

Jurors were told her father had an affair with the woman more than 10 years ago while both of them were married.

The affair was revealed in 2015 when Sarah Brown discovered the intimate photos and videos the woman had shared with her husband during their fling.

But it was seven years later, between August and September 2022, that Ellie Brown posted 'derogatory comments' about the woman on her husband's business' website.

She then sent him the intimate images of his wife via WhatsApp and posted the photos of the woman on the escort website, which led to her husband being bombarded with calls and messages.

Prosecutors said it was 'a mean and calculated effort to cause distress in an act of revenge.'

Brown even targeted the couple's daughter - who had known nothing of her mother's infidelity - telling her: 'I will make sure your mum is never allowed to forget what she did to my family.'

From the witness box, the woman said she felt 'a deep, sickening feeling of just complete panic' when she found out sexual images of her had been posted online.

Her husband told the trial he could understand that the sisters were 'frustrated' about what happened - but added that he couldn't understand why they were 'hell-bent' on trying to damage the business he was running.

Brown had denied two counts of sharing private sexual photographs without consent, but changed her plea to guilty just before she was due to give evidence in her own defence in the second week of the trial.

Judge Alexander Menary said her admission of guilt had come at the 'eleventh hour and 59th minute'.

Adjourning the hearing ahead of sentencing next month, he said it was 'almost inevitable' she would go to prison 'because of the nature of the offending and the persistence of it'.

She was given bail ahead of the hearing and while she prepares to go to prison, her sister is trying to forge a new career after West Yorkshire police found her guilty of gross misconduct.

Sophie Brown quit her job as a patrol officer after she and her sister's actions were reported by the distressed couple they 'bullied and harassed.'

Geoff Brown is still with his wife Sarah after the affair with a married woman more than 10 years ago. Pictured: Geoff and Sarah Brown in India
Ellie and Sophie Brown, pictured here with their mother Sarah, engaged in a campaign of 'bullying and harassment', Leeds Crown Court was told

A disciplinary hearing in April found she would have been sacked had she not resigned, but a legal ruling meant the decision could not be reported until after Ellie Brown's trial.

Sophie Brown's disciplinary hearing was told she encouraged her sister to post the explicit photos in an 'act of revenge.'

The hearing was told that between August 27 and September 8, 2022, the sisters had engaged in a campaign of 'bullying and harassment.'

Messages between the sisters showed how they had initially planned to set up a profile of the victim on the Gumtree website, where they intended to post the naked photos and advertise sexual services for £5.

They then switched their discussions to using an escort site and added the woman's husband's phone number to the profile.

Sophie Brown admitted exchanging messages with her sister, but denied setting up the profile herself.

The panel heard that while many of the actions were carried out by Ellie Brown, they had been 'initiated and encouraged' by Sophie.

Police Federation representative Sgt Luke Stead told the misconduct hearing the incidents had happened over a short period and the family had been under stress at the time.

Sophie Brown, who interrupted the proceedings on several occasions, said: 'This was not revenge. We were taking the mick out of her because of the photos she'd sent to my dad.'

She was found guilty of gross misconduct, but cleared of an unrelated allegation of racial discrimination, though she had admitted using a racially offensive slur in phone messages to her sister on multiple occasions.

Panel chair Andrew Clemes said the 'messages exchanged were offensive and derogatory', but the context was 'unclear'.

The hearing was told Sophie Brown had resigned from West Yorkshire Police after the allegations came to light, having only served on the force for a short period of time.

The misconduct panel ruled she would have been dismissed from the force had she still been serving.