A woman targeted by a “depraved” stalker who sent her AI-generated images depicting her naked has said she fears he could be released from prison under the Government’s controversial early-release scheme.
Paris Shears, 31, described enduring a “despicable” campaign of harassment by Jakob Ward, a trusted family friend. The ordeal forced her to leave her home with her three children and stay in Airbnb accommodation.
Ms Shears said Ward, 28, whom she regarded as being like a “brother”, secretly posed as her former partner while bombarding her with messages on Instagram.
Ward sent her AI-generated naked images and terrifying packages containing her own underwear, as well as a bag containing his semen.
Ward, of Tidworth, Wiltshire, admitted stalking Ms Shears in a way that caused serious alarm or distress, creating a purported intimate image of an adult, theft, possessing cannabis and possessing a knuckleduster.
He pleaded guilty and was remanded in custody for six weeks before being sentenced last Friday. Winchester Crown Court jailed him for 32 months.
Judge Christopher Parker KC described Ward’s campaign as “despicable” and “depraved”, saying it was “completely incomprehensible”.
Ms Shears said: “Whilst I am relieved he is behind bars, the reality is that under the Government’s early-release arrangements, he could be back in the community far sooner than that sentence suggests.”
Paris Shears fears her tormentor could be free within months under early-release measures introduced by Labour
Jakob Ward had known his victim since she was 16, and she regarded him as being like a “brother”
“People convicted for less than four years will be eligible for release after serving one third, which I think is just abysmal.”
“The fact that domestic abuse offenders, stalkers and coercive controllers are not excluded from that is disgusting.”
Ms Shears said that, after time spent on remand was taken into account, Ward could be released in nine months under Labour’s early-release scheme.
The domestic abuse campaigner added: “It’s horrendous because the reality is I’ve got nine months, if that, now—a nine-month deadline to move, restart my life somewhere else and rebuild it again.”
“I walked into court hoping to see justice served. Instead, I walked out feeling like another victim of the very system I have spent so long fighting to change.”
“His sentence will end long before the consequences of his actions do.”
The court heard that Ward used an Instagram alias to send AI-generated images of Ms Shears, who is from Southampton, Hampshire.
She was left “genuinely terrified” for her life and slept with a knife beneath her pillow while Ward asked to meet her.
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Ms Shears, a domestic abuse campaigner, said she left court “feeling like another victim of the very system I have spent so long fighting to change”
Ward bombarded Ms Shears with Instagram messages while using a pseudonym
Ward also sent Ms Shears her own underwear and a package containing sex toys.
The defendant, who was the father of her nephew, used AI to deliberately impersonate another man but when she asked to be left alone he replied that he had items belonging to her and sent her her own What3Words location.
Ms Shears went to the police station, fearing for her safety, and while she was there received another message from the anonymous account saying: ‘Don’t worry, I’m not a threat.’
He was identified through DNA analysis of the semen he sent to her.
She said it was ‘mind-blowing’ to discover the man who looked after her home when she was on holiday was her tormentor.
In a statement read to the court, Ms Shears said the campaign destroyed her sense of safety.
She said: ‘The thing that frightened me most was the belief that somebody was going to break into my home, rape and kill me.’
Sentencing Ward, Judge Parker described the campaign as ‘despicable, depraved’ and ‘completely incomprehensible’.
Ms Shears is a domestic abuse campaigner who has fought for changes to the justice system and travelled to Parliament on October 19 after a petition she started attracted more than 107,000 signatures.
She is calling for perpetrators who plead guilty at the last minute not to receive a reduced sentence. It comes after she was abused by her ex-partner, who pleaded guilty on the day of his trial.
Around 1,350 prisoners including violent offenders, domestic abusers and burglars have been freed early in two waves this month under Labour’s early release scheme aimed at freeing up space in overcrowded jails.
Dozens are thought to have been recalled already after breaching their licences or reoffending.
Labour also released more than 70,000 under an early-release scheme launched two months after the 2024 election.
A Government spokesman said: ‘We inherited a prison system on the brink of collapse, and had we failed to act, the police would have been forced to halt arrests, putting victims and communities at untold risk.
‘To protect the public, we’re putting thousands more neighbourhood police officers on our streets, introducing the toughest-ever licence controls, expanding electronic tagging, investing in probation at record levels, and delivering 14,000 more prison places.’
