Teacher quit job after colleague created deepfake pornography
A teacher created and distributed deepfake pornographic images of two school colleagues without consent on adult websites. One victim quit her job after discovering a student had seen the images and mentioned them during a safeguarding lesson. The perpetrator was sentenced to five years in prison in January 2025 for stalking offences.
What happened
Jonathan Bates, a former paratrooper who retrained as a teacher, created and distributed deepfake pornographic images of two school colleagues without their consent on pornography and escort websites.
One victim, Kirsty Pellant, discovered the images were being used when a man delivered a Valentine's card to her house and later contacted her through LinkedIn, claiming to be in a relationship with her based on the fake images he had seen.
During a school safeguarding lesson, one of Pellant's students mentioned having seen the deepfake images on their parents' phone, forcing Pellant to address the situation professionally in front of her class.
Reported impact
Pellant was forced to quit her job at a primary school due to the trauma and the pervasive reminders of the abuse in her workplace.
Both victims reported that the incident damaged their sense of trust and created lasting psychological distress, with Pellant experiencing flashbacks to classroom interactions.
Index analysis
Bates exploited his position as a teacher and his knowledge of his colleagues to obtain and distribute non-consensual deepfake sexual imagery.
Governance controls
Bates was sentenced to five years in prison in January 2025 for stalking offences and was issued a 10-year restraining order.
Classification
Sources and evidence
Sources not yet published
This record was researched and written by the Index from original reporting. Its sources are still being verified by an editor, and they are listed here once that check is complete. Until then the record carries no reviewer.