A man stole his ex-girlfriend's phone and sent a sexually explicit video of her to her dad, mum, sister and new work colleagues in a cruel act of revenge porn.
Patrick McConnell met the woman on the Tinder dating app and they embarked on a four week relationship in July 2019.
But when the 34-year-old started to show signs of "possessiveness," and accused her of cheating, she split up with him.
The next day McConnell turned up unannounced at her work address where he snatched her mobile phone from her and ran away.
Later that day, on August 29, last year, he sent a sexually explicit video to a private What's App group including his ex-girlfriend's mum, dad and sister.
McConnell also dispatched a video to the woman's work colleagues, at a place of employment she had only started four months earlier.
The Norris Green man, of Hollingbourne Road, then logged into her Facebook account and, posing as the woman, who we are not naming, started chatting to her former boyfriend, stating that she "missed him."
Today, a judge described his actions as "mean, nasty and spiteful."
Liverpool Crown Court heard how she managed to identify the location of the mobile by using the Track My Phone app, which revealed the device was at McConnell's home.
Later, he attended her work address and handed the phone into reception and he was soon arrested.
Initially, he denied taking the phone or sending any messages from it.
And McConnell maintained that stance until the day of his trial, when he changed his plea to guilty, preventing the woman from giving evidence in court.
In a Victim Impact Statement, the woman described how she'd "never been the most confident, but was slowly getting there."
She said the sending of the explicit videos, particularly to her new work colleagues, made her feel "my career was over as soon as it had started."
The woman, who didn't attend court for the sentencing, added she'd experienced "embarrassment and shame" and she fears him turning up again, triggering anxiety within her.
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She added: "I suffer nightmare and night terrors and feel someone is watching over me, and wake up in a panic."
The revenge porn act had affected her trusting men in future relationships, she said, and she felt "a tight chest and a loss of breath when leaving the office alone."
McConnell, who pleaded guilty to disclosing private sexual photographs and films with intent to cause distress, had no previous convictions, prosecutor Cheryl Mottram said.
Andrew McInnis, defending, said his client had experienced a close family member bereavement in 2018 which had "affected him mentally."
The lawyer added: "He feels insecurity and lack of trust and that is part of the problem he has.
"He has acted impulsively by taking the phone and passing messages to those people identified.
"He said to me, 'if my mother was around she would be devastated about this sort of behaviour and I wish I could turn the clock back.'"
Judge Michael Swinnerton said the crime passed the custody threshold, but he decided not to send McConnell to prison, handing him a eight month suspended sentence.
That will last for 18 months and means if he commits another offence in that time he could be put behind bars.
McConnell must also perform 200 hours of unpaid work and follow a 12-month mental health treatment requirement.
Judge Swinnerton said he drew back from immediate custody because "you did it for [only] one day and handed the phone back to her office after one day," and he believed there was a "realistic prospect of rehabilitation."
But the "deliberate selecting" of her mum, dad, sister and work colleagues was an aggravating feature, he added.
He added: "The effect of what you did will last a long time, it's not something she will ever forget."
