A 47-year-old man has been sentenced to more than two years in prison for creating and distributing sexually explicit deepfake images using the faces of real women and children, as reported by The BBC.
Karl Marshall, of Rufford Road, Southport, pleaded guilty to multiple offences at Liverpool Crown Court. Between July 2023 and January 2024, Marshall used artificial intelligence (AI) technology to create 266 deepfake images, which he then shared online, according to Merseyside Police.
In a victim impact statement shared by the police, one of Marshall’s victims expressed the emotional toll the crime had taken on her:
“Knowing those images of me are out there circulating the internet is so violating. I’m not the same person I was before. I worry when a man looks at me for too long and panic that he may have seen the images.”
Another victim shared a similar sentiment, saying she felt “unsafe in my own skin.” Her statement added, “No one touched me, yet I feel violated and used.”
This week, Liverpool Crown Court sentenced Marshall to two years and two months in prison. He admitted to making indecent photographs or pseudo-photographs of a child and to sharing intimate images for sexual gratification. Detective Sergeant Rory Quigley urged victims of sexual abuse to come forward.
