Chapter 19 Iris
Iris
THEN
The headmaster, Mr Brook, had told Mum that the school would be looking into the incident.
But whatever they were doing, it wasn’t enough or fast enough for her parents’ liking.
So, following Ian’s advice, they contacted the police.
Mum and Dad both took her to the police station in Barnstaple, where she had to speak to two officers – PC Andrea Quinlan and PC Max Lynch.
PC Quinlan was this small, round-faced woman with light-brown eyes that made Iris think of weak tea.
She was nice, right from the start. Her colleague, though?
He was the total opposite. He was tall and thin; he had a long face and a long nose to match and these judgey blue eyes that bored into Iris. He gave her the ick.
The first time they went to the police station, Iris had to give a statement.
Her face flamed as she went through it all.
It was bad enough going over it all – again – in front of her parents, but in front of total strangers?
It was so humiliating. PC Lynch just looked at her the whole time like it was all her fault.
Luckily, PC Quinlan was the one typing up her words and asking her questions.
When PC Quinlan had read the statement back to Iris and she’d signed it, the officer asked her if she would mind leaving her phone with them for a couple of days. She did mind, but it wasn’t like she needed it. So she just shrugged and passed over her mobile. It wasn’t like she had much choice.
Then PC Quinlan turned to Iris’s mum and dad. ‘You need to react quickly before the video spreads to more platforms,’ she said. ‘My advice would be to contact the Revenge Porn Helpline. They’ll help you take it down.’
Her dad looked from one police officer to the other, then from Iris to her mum. ‘Don’t the police do that?’ he asked. Iris could hear the disbelief in Dad’s voice.
‘I’m afraid not,’ PC Quinlan said.
‘For one thing, we don’t have the resources for that sort of thing,’ PC Lynch added bluntly, turning his nose up like he was being asked to pick up dog poo on his rounds.
‘Well, what can you do?’ Mum sounded as desperate as Iris felt.
PC Quinlan’s sigh said it all. ‘We’ll do our best,’ she promised, ‘but, to be honest, the law is not on our side.’
‘I don’t understand,’ Iris’s mother said.
‘The current law doesn’t help us to help you,’ PC Quinlan said. ‘As it stands, for the Crown Prosecution Service to agree to prosecute, we’d need to be able to prove that this video was shared with intent to cause distress.’
‘What other reason would he have had for sharing it?’ Dad asked.
‘It might simply have been to score lad points,’ PC Lynch said with a shrug. ‘You know, get kudos from his peers?’
‘And that’s OK? Are you saying that’s not illegal?’
‘There’s been an extensive review and there’s a chance the law will change very soon,’ PC Quinlan said, ‘but for the moment—’
‘We could probably do more if Iris had been filmed without her knowledge,’ PC Lynch chimed in, ‘but she filmed herself and then shared the video willingly.’ He made a sweeping gesture with his hands, palms upwards, that Iris interpreted as: What do you expect?
‘Not with the whole school!’ Dad’s face was crimson. ‘She shared it with one person. Joshua Knoll is the one who shared it with everyone else. And that was without Iris’s consent!’
‘That will be hard to prove,’ PC Lynch said unhelpfully. ‘Joshua Knoll will deny it, say his phone was hacked, claim he’s a victim, too. It’s been a few days. He’s had time to get rid of anything incriminating on his phone or computer.’
‘What about the threat to share?’ Mum had spent hours every evening, sifting through stuff on the internet. ‘That’s illegal now, isn’t it?’
‘Yes, you’re right. That amendment came into effect recently,’ PC Quinlan said to Mum, and to Iris, ‘Did Joshua threaten to share the video?’
Iris thought about that text Josh had sent, ages ago, after they’d split up for the last time.
The one where he’d said he couldn’t stop looking at photos of her and wouldn’t like anyone else to see her like that.
His words were all vague and ambiguous. Classic Josh.
He didn’t even say they were nude photos he was looking at.
‘Not really,’ she mumbled, studying her hands.
‘Iris is a minor,’ PC Quinlan pointed out. ‘Did Joshua send you intimate photos or videos, Iris?’
‘Yes,’ she said. ‘When we were … going out with each other.’
‘Well, that’s illegal,’ PC Quinlan said. ‘An adult can’t send intimate pictures to someone who’s underage.’
‘He wasn’t an adult at the time,’ Mum pointed out.
‘I deleted them,’ Iris said. She’d deleted them from the Cloud as well.
‘There will be a trace somewhere, I expect,’ Dad said, patting her arm.
Iris certainly hoped not.
‘Listen, here’s what you can do. Firstly, contact the Revenge Porn Helpline. Ask them to help you take down the video. Secondly, start collecting your own evidence. Anything you can find.’
Iris glanced at Mum, whose eyes and mouth were wide open. Iris could tell what she was thinking. She wanted to know why it was up to them, and not the police, to collect evidence.
PC Lynch answered the question, even though no one had actually asked it. ‘Apart from the fact we lack resources, as I mentioned, most police officers aren’t trained in digital investigation techniques.’ There wasn’t even a hint of regret in his voice.
‘That’s true.’ PC Quinlan’s voice was more apologetic. ‘We’ll do our best, though,’ she repeated. ‘I promise.’
But she didn’t say exactly what they would do.
Iris and her parents left the police station. Iris could tell Mum and Dad were as gutted as she was.
*
It wasn’t until the next week that Mum suggested Iris should go online and find as much evidence as she could. ‘Texts, emails, photos, anything,’ Mum said.
The police had given Iris back her phone by then, but she still hadn’t turned it on.
She didn’t mean to look. But it was everywhere.
She had text messages, some from anonymous numbers.
Pupils were discussing it in WhatsApp groups.
Either they didn’t realize she belonged to those groups or else they didn’t give a shit.
There were jokes, at her expense. Criticisms, levelled at her.
Some pupils had written private messages to her via Instagram, calling her names.
She didn’t even know all of the pupils personally.
For, like, five minutes, Iris read one comment after the other.
Then she completely lost it. She roared as she chucked her phone at the wall.
It hit with a load crack. Curling up on the bed, she hugged her knees to her chest and buried her face; she started to cry and, moments later, she was sobbing uncontrollably.
She squeezed her eyes tight shut, but she could still see the words. She could even hear them in her head.
What the fuck was she thinking?
Why did she send it in the first place?
She’s brought this on herself.
You slut!
There had been some more lurid remarks by some of the boys in her school, but the ones that scrolled behind her eyelids hit harder. The victim shaming. It hurt far more, not just because this was what other people thought of her, but also because this was what she thought of herself.
Mum burst into her room and sat on the bed beside her. She held her tightly and rocked her.
‘It’s my fault,’ Iris sobbed. ‘This is all my fault.’
‘No, it’s not,’ Mum said firmly.
‘It is! Everyone says so. I should never have … sent that v-video. I deserve … I deserve what has happened.’
‘No, you don’t,’ Mum said. ‘That’s like telling a rape victim she shouldn’t have worn a short skirt. This isn’t your fault.’
Dad came by that evening to pick her up.
Iris had asked to spend the weekend at his place.
As much as anything else, it might give Mum, Olly and Margo a break.
They were all exhausted from having to deal with the shitstorm she’d started.
As for Daniel, he looked at her in the same way as PC Lynch had looked at her.
Oh, he pretended to be on her side, especially in front of Mum.
But Iris could tell he thought she’d screwed up. And she had. Big time.
Iris paused on the stairs, her bag slung over her shoulder. Daniel and Margo were in the kitchen and the door was closed. Olly was at a mate’s house. Mum and Dad were talking in the hallway and hadn’t seen her.
‘The people at the Revenge Porn Helpline have been really helpful and I’m reporting the video every time I find it to get it deleted,’ Dad was saying. ‘But it’s like a game of Whack-a-Mole. Every time it gets taken down on one website, it pops up on another.’
Iris gripped the handrail like she was about to fall down the stairs. Dad must be spending his spare time trawling through porn sites. He must hate her for this. She certainly hated herself for putting everyone through this.
‘Oh, God, Ash, what are we going to do?’
‘Just keep doing what we’re doing, I guess. Damage control.’
‘Perhaps we could get a lawyer?’ Mum said.
‘Yes, that’s what I was thinking. I’ll ask Roly if he can recommend someone.’ Dad looked up and saw her. ‘Hey, Gorgeous,’ he said. ‘Ready to roll?’
Iris tried to nod. She could barely put one foot in front of the other to go down the stairs.
‘OK. Let’s get out of here,’ Dad said, giving her a hug as she reached the bottom step.
Iris nodded again. She wished they could get out of here and go far away. Not just up the road to Dad’s place. She wanted to leave this place, leave this country and start over. Some place new where no one knew her. Somewhere she could feel normal. Invisible.