A deepfake victim is calling for reputational abuse to be recognised as a distinct form of abuse after her image was shared on explicit websites, causing her lasting harm.

Kirsty Pellant discovered her photograph had been used to create a fake identity online.

Her name and other personal information were also used to portray her online as a sex worker.

Pellant, from Kent, said she began receiving "odd messages" on social media in 2017, but she did not suspect anything.

She also received a Valentine's Day card from someone whom she had never met.

"Someone then messaged me on LinkedIn asking why I did not meet him on a date. I told him he got the wrong person," she said.

"He then showed me a series of conversations he had with the fake Kirsty online."

Pellant, who was working at a school at the time, said she had been "hounded and trolled" by people who thought she should lose her job.

"Some parents and members of the community turned against me," she said.

Pellant said the images of her were taken from her Facebook account, manipulated and then added to naked bodies of other women.

The perpetrator, who was a colleague of Pellant's, had been creating deepfakes of her and and three other women between 2017 to 2022.

He was convicted of several stalking charges and one charge of disclosing/threatening to disclose private sexual photographs and films with the intention of causing distress, according to the Crown Prosecution Service.

He received a five-year sentence at Truro Crown Court in January 2025.

Despite this, Pellant says she continues to fight to prove her innocence as the digital footprint of her fake identity is still present.

"I still get people messaging me, but not as frequently as before," she says.

"The damage to my reputation wasn't just a consequence of the stalking, it was part of the abuse itself."

Pellant is now campaigning for reputational abuse to be formally recognised and defined in law.

She has launched a UK Parliament petition which needs 100,000 signatures by February.

"We have clear terms for stalking, sexual abuse and intimate image abuse," she says.

"But there is still no widely recognised definition for what happens when someone's identity is stolen, sexualised and weaponised against them."

Sophie Mortimer, a revenge porn helpline manager and co-founder of the online safety charity SWGfL, said: "Images of Kirsty were weaponised in a harmful and damaging way.

"However, the case falls outside existing offences because the images that were used were neither nude nor intimate, despite being used in a suggestive context."

Mortimer added there should be clearly defined offences to address this kind of targeted abuse.

"The harm is not simply about nudity, but about portraying someone in a way that encourages others to think negatively of them," she adds.

A spokesperson for the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT) said sharing or creating intimate images without consent was a "disgusting" crime.

"Platforms must now also take down this content within 48 hours or face consequences. Tech bosses could also face liability," they said.

They said the department was also banning AI tools which generate deepfake sexual images of people without consent, with developers and suppliers facing up to three years in prison.

The department said it was using online and offline measures to halve violence against women and girls within a decade, including stronger protections against intimate image abuse.

It said new offences covering the creation and solicitation of non-consensual intimate images, including deepfakes, had been introduced, while changes to the Online Safety Act require platforms to remove such content quickly.

The government's strategy also includes more than £6m for support helplines and stronger Stalking Protection Orders to help courts protect victims faster.

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