‘They knew where I lived’: Emily Atack reveals she called the police on cyberflasher

After months of campaigning against cyberflashing, actress Emily Atack revealed she ended up calling the police on one man who found out where she lived.

Cyberflashing is a form of image-based sexual abuse. It means sending an explicit photo or video without the other party’s consent. In March, it was revealed the government intend to turn it into a criminal offence.

Emily has spoken out a number of times about her experience with online abuse. In October 2021, she opened up about being “bombarded with penis shots” – as well as saying men still call her by her Inbetweeners character’s name, “Charlotte Big Jugs.” One of her selfies was recently retweeted by porn site Fake Taxi; prompting a tidal wave of unsolicited DMs and sexually explicit comments.

Photo via Instagram

In her latest interview with The Sun, the comedian said she’d been repeatedly targeted by a cyberflasher who wouldn’t leave her alone: “There was this one time, things were really really bad, and I did involve the police,” she said. “It was quite stalker-ish — this person saying they knew where I lived, saying what they were going to do to me, even my family.”

“I got the police involved and it was the last time. To be fair the police tried to be helpful, they cared, but they hit a dead end because they aren’t allowed access to IP addresses and Twitter, etcetera, won’t give them out.

“So I just lost — you put your faith in the police, the people who are supposed to protect you, but I just lost faith in that system. There’s only so much they can do.”

Photo via Instagram

Emily even had to move house several times because she was terrified of being alone: “I definitely fear for my safety maybe more so than someone who was in a relationship, who has a partner, or even someone who lives with flatmates,” she said.

“It’s taking away my right to live freely.”

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Featured image via Instagram.