Jailed: Dudley man who shared revenge porn

Samuel Bishop also sent the picture to eight other social network users, including friends, family and work colleagues of his victim.

Dudley Magistrates Court yesterday jailed Bishop for the offences, saying they were a serious breach of trust.

Bishop showed no emotion as he was taken down to begin his sentence.

The court was told the victim had 'felt sick to her stomach' upon realising what Bishop, aged 29, had done.

Magistrates heard Bishop and his victim had been in a relationship but had since split up. He continued to victimise her and was charged with battery in 2012.

The court was told a restraining order had been put on him which he breached in April 2013, leading to eight weeks in prison.

There had been no further issues until May 24 this year when the victim woke up at 7.15am to find the picture had been sent to her new partner's phone.

Miss Val Hart, prosecuting, said: "The picture had been sent to eight different people including her new partner, friends, work colleagues and a family member - all male.

"She then checked Facebook and found the profile picture had also been changed."

Miss Hart said the victim had deleted the picture but when she checked Facebook later the same day the profile picture had been changed back to the intimate photograph.

And she said the victim could not understand why Bishop wanted to hurt her and was horrified by what had happened.

The photograph had been taken years before when the pair were still a couple.

Bishop, of Hamilton Drive, Wordsley pleaded guilty to two counts of disclosing private sexual photographs with intent to cause distress at an earlier hearing.

He was sentenced to 20 weeks for each charge to be served consecutively.

He was also ordered to pay his victim £2,000 compensation.

Mr Andrew Wakeman, defending, said his client had himself struggled to understand why he decided to take the actions.

"He clearly wanted to hurt her of that there can be no question," he said.

"He felt his life had not moved on and his former partner's had."

Mr Wakeman said his client also had a problem with alcohol and it had led to 'a deep feeling of unhappiness'.

He said Bishop was now seeking help for his binge drinking and had tried to cut alcohol out of his life altogether.

Magistrates took around an hour to reach their verdict.

Head magistrate Mr Crew said: "As you can tell by the amount of time we have taken this is not a matter we have taken lightly.

"This was a breach of trust. This picture was of an intimate nature.

"This has had an impact on the victim leading to stress and trust-issues. It has also had an impact on her family and your own family.

"Offences of this kind will not be tolerated."

Mr Crew said magistrates had given Bishop credit for his early guilty plea and for the help he had sought to deal with his drinking problem.

Bishop is one of the first people in the West Midlands to have been dealt with by the courts under the new revenge porn laws.

Last month, Alex Till, from Kidderminster, became the first person in the West Midlands to be convicted under the new revenge porn laws.

The 25-year-old was handed a community order and fine by Kidderminster magistrates after he uploaded a naked picture of an ex-partner to Facebook.