Holly Whitmore was in her kitchen when she received a chilling message that threatened to shatter her world.
Her ex, Akim Nicholson had been bombarding her after their breakup, but this time it was different. The message read: “Check your Snapchat,” sparking immediate fear in Holly. Trembling, the 36-year-old social worker opened the app only to be horrified by what she found.
Akim, an aspiring rapper aged 35, had secretly recorded their intimate moments and, in a vile act of revenge porn, shared images and videos of her on the platform. “I felt sick,” Holly recalls.
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“Everything just stopped around me. My heart stopped. All I remember of that moment is saying ‘Oh my God! Why is he doing this? Why?”
(Image: DAILY MIRROR)
The panic about the impact on her two daughters, 14 and 16, was accelerated as her phone exploded with notifications. Akim had tagged her in the post, urging others—including one with 2,000 followers—to spread it further, reports the Mirror.
“To my horror, it didn’t end there. It actually went to thousands and thousands of people. It was shared via Snapchat, TikTok and also WhatsApp. He even tagged my account to the video. I was devastated. I was screaming inside my head and wanted to claw my way into the phone screen to make it stop. He told me, ‘You’re finished’ and ‘Your whole year just got ruined.’ He said he was going to make me go viral.”
Holly, from Birmingham first bumped into Akim during their teen years. Fast forward to 2019 and he slid back into her life via social media just when she was battling a stalker ex who was raining down a torrent of threatening calls on her.
Akim stepped up as a mate, offering a shoulder to cry on, and for years they stayed just friends. Holly confesses: “Akim saw and heard all that was happening and positioned himself as my friend, tried to make out that he was being supportive and was disgusted with my ex’s behaviour. In my head, being a victim at the time, I was very vulnerable. Things were cloudy for me.”
(Image: DAILY MIRROR)
When they finally paired up in May 2022, Akim charmed his way into Holly’s heart, playing the joker and Mr Reliable rolled into one. But on reflection, Holly reckons it was all a sham of “love bombing” – an insidious strategy where a bloke can smother you with lovey-dovey actions to snatch control early on in the relationship.
“He was promising the world from the start. He said he wanted marriage and children with me,” Holly reveals. Then, only weeks into this whirlwind romance, Akim went from love-struck beau to home-wrecking hooligan—throwing a brick to break into his mum’s place after a row, video calling her during the rampage and racking up a damage bill of £6,000.
Holly, who grew concerned by her partner’s criminal record, bravely ended things in June with Akim—already notorious for his stints in jail—including a January 2023 sentence for burgling his mother’s home. Holly shares, “I thought I don’t want to be with a guy who is in and out of jail. My confidence was coming back and I was beginning to see things clearer, and he was being controlling towards me.”
After his early release last August, Akim sought to woo Holly back, but she stood firm: “I could see the bigger picture and I didn’t want to be with him, and he wasn’t happy,” she explains.
“I blocked his number and that’s why he started emailing me.”
(Image: DAILY MIRROR)
Everything escalated when Akim released an explicit video in December, forcing Holly to alert the police. He became a fugitive before cops cornered him after a six-hour pub siege in Birmingham.
The confrontation turned violent: Akim assaulted a cop, wielded a knife, and launched a rooftop attack with bricks and fire extinguishers at police below.
Come October, justice caught up with Akim at Birmingham Crown Court where he was given a four-year stretch for multiple charges, including exposing a private sexual film of Holly. His rap sheet extended with admissions to affray, knife threats, battering emergency staff, racially charged harassment, and property destruction.
Holly, who’s been left traumatised after her intimate video was shared online, is relieved the culprit is locked up but feels four years isn’t enough. She’s now dedicated to rebuilding her life and looking after her teens, sharing: “My daughters are on TikTok the whole time, so I was so worried they would see the video. I had to explain to them what had happened, which is a horrible thing no mother should have to do.”
(Image: BPM Media)
The ordeal has left Holly suffering from trauma and sleepless nights.
She said: “It’s one of the worst things someone can do to you. It’s a gross violation of trust, and once it’s online you feel powerless. I was ashamed, embarrassed, and turned into a nervous wreck.”
Sharing private sexual material, either photos or videos, of another person without their consent or with the purpose of causing embarrassment or distress became illegal in 2015.
Holly is determined to start a charity to support others who’ve faced similar violations, stating: “I’m trying to put the story out there so people in a similar situation to me know the shame is not theirs. It is the perpetrators’. They are trying to make you ashamed, but you shouldn’t be. Now, I want to make his disgusting behaviour go viral.”
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