A travel “influencer” unmasked as a sex offender has wiped his social media – with new accounts in his name claiming he is a journalist.
Curtis Heighes had more than 60,000 followers across his Curtis Unchained profiles.
But he placed a blackout on the accounts after being found guilty of preying on a disabled woman in her home in 2023.
The 25-year-old has now deleted his Facebook account bar one picture, while new Facebook and Instagram pages bearing his name and purporting to be a journalist have been set up.
The new pages contain AI generated images of a news reporter and copy and pasted stories from real news outlets in his hometown of Bearsden, Dunbartonshire.
A source said: “It is scary to think someone can effectively wipe one life and start another online.
“It shows what a dangerous environment social media can be and why young people especially need to be very cautious about believing what they see and read.”
Heighes was working as an investment broker when he was convicted of sexually assaulting his victim.
He boasted online about his trips across the globe, the struggles he had overcome in his life and amateur boxing success.
But in reality he was a calculated sex offender who returned to a lone woman’s home after meeting her through his previous job as a broadband salesman – and sexually assaulted her.
View 2 Images(Image: Social Media)
More than 60,000 people followed his Curtis Unchained social media accounts, where he shared content from countries across the world.
He was spared jail for the attack on the woman after his lawyer said he had moved from London to Scotland to help care for his grandparents.
Heighes denied abusing the woman at her home in Paisley but a jury found him guilty of kissing her, picking her up, carrying her to a bed, placing her on the bed, lying on top of her and performing a sex act on her without her consent.
He was spared jail but placed on a three-year-long Community Payback Order and ordered to do 300 hours of unpaid work – the maximum number available.
He was also placed on a Restriction of Liberty Order, which saw him fitted with an electronic tag.
His victim hit out after he walked free from court, and said: “It makes me feel sick knowing how easily someone like that can hide in plain sight.”
After winning an amateur boxing title in 2024, Heighes said: “I’ve been through so much s*** in my life. I’ve lost things in my life. That’s what makes a winner.
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“Winners are the people that lose and they get back up. I never lose. Even when I lose, I’m a f***ing winner.”
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