'Obsessive' Snapchat hacker stole women's intimate images and 'traded them like football cards'

Adam Piggott, 35, of Lime Street in Shrewsbury, was sentenced at Shrewsbury Crown Court after admitting seven charges of causing a computer to perform a function to secure/enable unauthorised access to a program.

Lisa Hancox, prosecuting, explained that between 2019 and 2021 Piggott had hacked into women's social media accounts - predominantly Snapchat, with the intention of stealing intimate images and videos.

The court was told the charges related to six victims, who were all women he knew.

Ms Hancox described how after the images were hacked Piggott then shared them using a website where other people would discuss hacking, and share naked and intimate stolen pictures

The court was told that Piggott had created a dedicated section named 'Shrewsbury Girls' which contained the images.

Ms Hancox explained details of how Piggott had gone to great lengths to hack into the accounts of his victims, using Facebook as one of the methods to gain access.

The efforts also required hacking PINs for the accounts, with Ms Hancox explaining how Piggott secured the correct numbers.

The court was told that Piggott had also been visited at home by an officer from the National Crime Agency (NCA) in December 2020 before his arrest by local police.

They had warned him about being involved in hacking.

Piggott was then arrested in 2021 by local police who had become aware of an account sharing images of local women online, and traced the IP address to his home.

He admitted operating on the website under a username, and when asked about the images admitted he had "traded them like football cards".