'Fan's selfie of sex offender Stephen Bear is a wake-up call to parents'

06 March 2023 , 18:41

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Stephen Bear arriving at Chelmsford Crown Court (Image: Phil Harris)

The most chastening moment of the Stephen Bear situation was when a female fan asked for a selfie outside court last week.

That moment reminded millions of us parents that the work to keep our kids switched on is not over.

Bear, the winner of ­Celebrity Big Brother 2016, is no longer a star – he is a convicted sex offender. A court has ruled he will have to sign that register for 10 years.

The reality is that he’s been sentenced to 21 months in prison for sharing a private video of himself having sex with his ex-girlfriend Georgia Harrison. She’d been unaware that the recording was being made.

Georgia’s brave decision to waive her anonymity was intended to deter others from committing that kind of appalling crime.

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Details of that, his arrest and the ensuing court case have been extensive.

You’d have thought Bear’s ­reprehensible actions would render him a man you wouldn’t want to be seen within a million miles of.

And yet that fan – she looked to be in her late teens – looked giddy as Bear beckoned her over. “Man of the people,” he said, arms outstretched. Perhaps, to be fair to the fan, she didn’t know. Maybe she didn’t care. But you’d hope someone, somewhere – a friend, brother, sister, mum, dad – would have put her in the picture afterwards.

As parents we invest so much time in providing the antidote to misogynists like Bear and Andrew Tate – long before our kids have even heard of them.

We teach our children the basics around respect, the cult of celebrity and, as they get older, consent.

Bear and Tate are a reminder of why that ­education is so necessary.

Oozing bravado last week, Bear ­swaggered down the street approaching Chelmsford Crown Court pursued by a posse of female journalists holding him to account.

He ignored their questions, ignored an opportunity to apologise to Georgia, addressed one reporter as “Babe”, then aimed a tuneless version of Chris de Burgh’s The Lady In Red in her direction.

It all ended with him in jail and justice done.

Hopefully that young woman and millions like her will have someone close to explain more about why.

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