Reality TV star Stephen Bear ‘shared sex tape on OnlyFans’, court told

Bear, who appeared in Ex On The Beach, denies voyeurism and two counts of disclosing private sexual photographs and films and is on trial at Chelmsford Crown Court.

Jacqueline Carey KC, opening the prosecution case, said: “In August 2020 the complainant Georgia Harrison met up with her former boyfriend Stephen Bear.

“They had some lunch and had some drinks and ended up back at his house in Loughton (in Essex).

“They engaged in consensual sexual intercourse in his garden.

“What she didn’t know – but he did – was Mr Bear had CCTV cameras in his garden that recorded them having sex.”

Later that day, Bear told Ms Harrison and showed her the footage, the barrister said.

“She told him never to send it to anyone and made it plain how upset she would be if he did,” Ms Carey said.

She said Bear sent the footage to someone on WhatsApp that night “despite knowing how upset she would be if the footage were to get out”.

Ms Carey said Bear later uploaded the footage “either himself or had it uploaded to OnlyFans and profited financially”.

“The defendant was effectively selling the footage to get money,” Ms Carey said.

Bear, of Loughton, arrived at the court in a chauffeur-driven white Rolls Royce on Tuesday morning.

The 32-year-old, who won Celebrity Big Brother in 2016, wore a pink suit, black fur coat and sunglasses.

The alleged offences are said to have taken place in August 2020 and in November 2020.

Ms Harrison’s representatives said she has waived her right to anonymity in relation to the case.

The 27-year-old has appeared on shows such as The Only Way Is Essex, Love Island and Olivia Meets Her Match.

Ms Carey said Bear’s OnlyFans account was opened in October 2020, closed in December 2020 and had 1,061 subscribers, with 273 people paying 9.99 US dollars (£8.15) to watch the footage of Bear and Ms Harrison.

“It’s clear there’s a lot of money to be made from posting content such as this,” said the prosecutor.

She said Bear was arrested at Heathrow airport on his way back from Dubai on January 15 2021, but the phone he was using in Dubai “was never recovered”.

Ms Harrison, giving evidence from behind screens, said she and Bear went for lunch at a Turkish restaurant on August 2 2020 and “there was a lot of alcohol involved”.

She said they later stopped at his sunbed shop, bought more alcohol and drank tequila and wine at his house.

Ms Harrison said they had sex in Bear’s garden and she had “absolutely no idea I was on camera during the time we were having sex”.

She said Bear told her later the pair may have been “accidentally recorded” on CCTV and she asked to see the footage.

“I was really drunk and I knew in the morning I was going to want to know what was on there,” she said.

Ms Harrison said she told Bear it was “going to be really bad, to not just change my life but also yours” if the footage came out.

“He acted like I was being really uptight about something that was never going to come out,” she said.

“It wasn’t until later that evening when I thought I saw him send it to someone that I thought this was quite serious.”

She said she “grabbed” Bear’s phone when she saw him send over WhatsApp.

She said: “I started crying and he said ‘Don’t be silly’.”

Ms Harrison said Bear told her the person on WhatsApp would not have sent the footage on and “he unsent it, said he deleted it and said he wouldn’t send it to anyone again”.

“I told him it would completely ruin my life and ruin his career and if he was to send it to anyone it’s revenge porn and you can go to prison for revenge porn,” she said.

She said that, weeks later, she was told the footage was online and, after enlisting the help of an “ethical hacker”, she “found out it originated from (Bear’s) OnlyFans”.

Ms Harrison said her mother, who was her manager at the time, subscribed to Bear’s OnlyFans account and found a post from November 8 2020 with a screenshot from the footage saying: “Here’s a little sneak peek. I’ll be dropping this video tonight.”

She said she sent the screenshot to police, adding: “To actually be monetising off of it – it’s absurd.”

Asked by Ms Carey why she waived her right to anonymity, Ms Harrison said: “My right to anonymity realistically disappeared the moment it (the footage) surfaced.”

She said she was pursuing a civil case against Bear.

“I’ve lost a lot from my career and just in general,” said Ms Harrison.

“Really I feel I should be getting some form of compensation from what Bear’s done.”

The trial, expected to last at least four days, continues.