Former reality television personality Stephen Bear has received a 24-week prison sentence after admitting five failures to comply with sex offender registration requirements.
Thames Magistrates’ Court heard on Aug. 14 that Bear had not informed police about a trip to Brazil in 2025 or notified officers within three days of returning to the United Kingdom in April 2026. He also failed to report a replacement passport and two new bank cards acquired while he was abroad.
Authorities discovered the unreported travel through Bear’s own social media activity. Prosecutor Maisa Mamman said he posted videos from a Brazilian beach in which he claimed police would be unable to catch him and was “essentially bragging” about his location.
Bear appeared from custody because he was already serving a separate 16-month sentence imposed eight days earlier for breaching a restraining order protecting his former partner, Georgia Harrison. The two hearings concerned different offenses.
Bear’s Brazil Posts Alerted Authorities to the Unreported Trip
Bear pleaded guilty to five counts of failing to comply with notification requirements attached to his 10-year registration period, according to PA’s report from the hearing. The court heard that Bear was not a fugitive, but his registration requirements obligated him to notify authorities about foreign travel and specified changes to his personal information.
Prosecutor Maisa Mamman said Bear uploaded videos showing himself on a beach in Brazil while saying “the police will not be able to catch” him. “He posted on social media videos essentially bragging he was in Brazil,” Mamman told the court.
Bear had failed to tell police about the trip before leaving the country. He also failed to notify them within the required three days after returning to the U.K.
Bear Did Not Report His Replacement Passport or New Bank Cards
The court heard that Bear’s NatWest card stopped working while he was in Brazil, leading him to obtain cards from Wise and Revolut. His attorney, Jesse Williams, said Bear needed access to money for rent and living expenses and wanted a backup in case another account did not work.
Williams also said Bear lost his passport while in Brazil and contacted the British consulate to obtain a replacement. The defense argued that Bear did not understand the extent of his notification obligations at the time but now understood what information he was required to provide. Williams said Bear returned to the U.K. in April 2026 following the death of his father.
Deputy District Judge Claire Pithie ordered the 24-week sentence to take immediate effect. “You need to work on your strategies,” she told Bear. “Otherwise you will keep ending up finding yourself in difficult situations.” The judge also noted that Bear has a baby on the way. As he was taken from the dock, Bear told her, “Thank you, have a good day.”
He Was Already Serving 16 Months for Posts About Georgia Harrison
Bear’s latest appearance came after Chelmsford Crown Court sentenced him to 16 months on Aug. 6 for repeatedly posting about Harrison despite a court order prohibiting him from doing so. The Crown Prosecution Service said Bear repeatedly posted about Harrison across Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, X and YouTube between March and July 2025.
Prosecutors described the posts as part of a campaign in which Bear made degrading comments about Harrison, encouraged other people to comment about her and continued posting even after several of his accounts were shut down because of their content. He also made accusations about Harrison and her mother, questioned his earlier convictions and created an online petition seeking support for a retrial.
Bear admitted one count of breaching the restraining order at Snaresbrook Crown Court on June 8. Chelmsford Crown Court imposed the 16-month immediate custodial sentence on Aug. 6. After the sentencing, Harrison said Essex Police had treated his conduct as a serious crime.
“They treated this as the serious crime it is not a celebrity story,” she said. “It is a real offence against a real person.” The court also replaced the original five-year restraining order with a new order that remains in place until further order.
The Registration Requirements Stem From Bear’s 2022 Convictions
Bear’s obligation to comply with the notification requirements stems from his earlier criminal case involving Harrison. A jury convicted him in December 2022 of voyeurism and two counts of disclosing private sexual photographs and films with intent to cause distress after he shared intimate footage of Harrison without her consent.
When Bear was sentenced in March 2023, he received 21 months in prison. The court also imposed a five-year restraining order and required him to remain subject to sex offender notification requirements for 10 years.