A bitter ex-boyfriend posted topless pictures of his former lover online as punishment when she started a new relationship.
James Aldous, 22, let himself into Cassie Fearnley’s house while she was sleeping and copied 20 pictures of the university student posing topless and in her underwear which were saved on her laptop computer.
He then uploaded the intimate pictures to websites to humiliate her.
Revenge plot: James Aldous, right, admitted posting intimate pictures of his ex-girlfriend Cassie Fearnley, 22, left, on the internet after taking them from her laptop. This is not one of the images posted online by Aldous
When Miss Fearnley, also 22, found out about the plot, she confronted Aldous and he deleted the images.
But they had already started to circulate on the internet and had spread to many more websites.
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As a result, it could be almost impossible to find and remove all the pictures – meaning they could potentially come back to haunt Miss Fearnley for the rest of her life.
Aldous has been given an 18-week suspended prison sentence after admitting a charge of harassment at Colchester Magistrates Court.
Guilty: James Aldous, 22, was given a suspended prison sentence and ordered to complete 150 hours of unpaid work
Chairman of the bench Martin Stutchfield told him: ‘It was a particularly heinous crime and the principle is a disgraceful one.
‘The humiliation which the victim has suffered is so great that we can not properly compensate her.’
The court heard Aldous, who works as a chef, and Miss Fearnley began a relationship in 2008 and had a two-year-old daughter together.
They split after a series if rows in October last year and Aldous moved out of the house they shared in Clacton, Essex.
In the early hours of one morning the following month, Miss Fearnley woke up to hear someone leaving her house.
Philip Pearson, prosecuting, said: ‘She looked out of the window and could see the defendant getting into his car and driving away.
‘She phoned him straight away and he confessed he had been in the house and had the key to the property.’
It was not until February that Miss Fearnley discovered that Aldous had been posting her images online.
Mr Pearson said: ‘Aldous was angry and wanted to get back at her for having a new partner and he chose a grossly offensive way to do so.’
Aldous, who had no previous convictions, was arrested and confessed setting up two websites with images of Miss Fearnley.
Anna Perera, mitigating, said: ‘He did feel angry and posted the photographs she had shown to him previously.
‘As soon as she found out, he took them down immediately.’
But the court heard that the images were likely to remain on other sites.
Aldous was ordered to complete 150 hours unpaid work in the community and told to pay £105 costs and an £80 victim surcharge.
Outside court, Miss Fearnley, who is a student at Essex University, said: ‘It has been really traumatic for me.
'There have been days when I have not felt up to going into college because of the shame.
‘It was a massive betrayal of trust. Perhaps he was just jealous, but for him to post the pictures of me online was so hurtful.
‘He told me he had a problem and needed to seek professional help.’