A social worker who posted explicit photographs of a woman on Facebook with captions such as 'Inbox me. Fiver a go boys' has been handed a suspended prison sentence. Bethany Cadden, 30, of Barrington Road in Wallasey, Wirral, befriended the victim while their respective boyfriends were sharing a prison cell in 2024.
Friendship turned sour
The friendship soured around six months later when the victim distanced herself from Cadden. The defendant then demanded repayment of hundreds of pounds she claimed was owed. When the money was not forthcoming, Cadden launched a campaign of harassment and threats over three days in May 2025.
Prosecutor Derek Jones told Liverpool Crown Court that Cadden sent abusive messages, threatened to contact social services to have the victim's children removed, and called the care home where the victim's mother lived. She also threatened to post intimate images she had obtained from the victim's iCloud account.
Setting up a fake Facebook profile
Cadden created a fake Facebook profile with the description 'I'm a dirty slag who loves cheating on my fella' and uploaded explicit images of the victim with captions including 'Inbox me. Fiver a go boys.' The profile was taken down a few days later, but at least one male friend of the victim saw the images and alerted her.
Cadden admitted one count of blackmail. She has no previous convictions. Her defence barrister, Chris McMaster, said: 'The court will have noted that there are some matters in Ms Cadden's background that perhaps give some explanation for this behaviour, in particular the difficult upbringing and the domestic abuse that was fresh around this time. It offers no excuse, but it perhaps offers an explanation.'
Sentencing
Recorder David Knifton KC sentenced Cadden to 16 months imprisonment suspended for two years, with a rehabilitation activity requirement of up to 20 days and a 10-year restraining order. He described the conduct as 'despicable' and said: 'It can never be known how many people saw those images before the account was taken down a few days later.'
The judge noted that Cadden's actions were 'primarily motivated by a desire to recoup the money' but also acknowledged possible revenge motives because the victim had since entered a relationship with Cadden's ex-boyfriend. He accepted that Cadden showed genuine remorse and that the risk of reoffending was low, adding that immediate custody would have a 'significant harmful impact' on her three-month-old son, for whom she is the sole carer.
