A man has narrowly escaped jail after posting naked photographs of his ex-partner for her friends, family and children to see.
Gary Bond, 37, of Vulcan Way in Swaffham, was handed 26 weeks in prison when he appeared at Lynn Magistrates’ Court on Thursday - but had the term suspended for two years.
He was told he was “extremely lucky” not to be sent straight to custody after causing his ex-partner “significant psychological harm”.
It was back on September 1 last year when the ordeal began, when Bond’s victim found out he had left her and entered a relationship with another woman.
She proceeded to send him a message referring to his “smelly rat feet” and “small c**k”, saying she hoped the new partner would “be able to put him with him”.
Bond proceeded to threaten to share a naked picture of his victim, and shortly afterwards he posted six such photographs on his WhatsApp story.
This meant all of his contacts - including the victim’s family, friends and children - were able to see them.
The victim attended court on Thursday, and a personal impact statement was read aloud by prosecutor Stephen Munton.
It started: “This is by far one of the most demoralising things that has happened to me in my life.”
It said the victim had trust issues before her relationship with Bond, and the images being shared “destroyed” her confidence and self worth.
She also said she felt “tormented” and “humiliated”, and Mr Munton said the ordeal had caused her “significant psychological harm”.
“It has taken a part from me I will never get back,” the victim added.
“For my son to see his mother in that way and to get messages from them (her family) and explaining it was demoralising.
“He single-handedly stripped me of my self worth. I believe he wanted to hurt me mentally because he knew my fragile state.
“I feel disgusted by this even though I know deep down this wasn’t my fault.”
She applied for a restraining order to be put in place preventing Bond from contacting her, but magistrates turned the request down as they did not feel it would be just.
Bond had previously pleaded guilty to disclosing private sexual photographs with intent to cause distress. His case had been adjourned for the probation service to prepare a pre-sentence report.
Mitigating, solicitor Andrew Cogan argued that while “the disclosure of any kind of intimate photographs is going to cause upset”, it was nearly impossible to work out who the images portrayed.
He said: “It is quite clear from the description of the photographs that have been uploaded onto WhatsApp that there are is no other indication of who these body parts belong to, other than the pubic region.
“There is certainly no face, and therefore that, in my submission, significantly reduces the level of harm.
“From that perspective, this is not quite as bad as it might have been.
“Of course, one has to listen to the victim personal statement and understand that the complainant in this matter will be able to look at these photos and see who it was.”
Referring to the message the victim had sent to Bond prior to him sharing the images, Mr Cogan said: “This is a woman who has just discovered that her partner of seven years has decided to leave her for another woman.
“That is not exactly a pleasant piece of information to put up.”
The solicitor added: “This is a limited group of people, although I readily accept it includes the complainant’s children and friends.
“When he is invited to take the photos down, he does not do it immediately - I have to accept that - but they do not stay up for longer than overnight.”
Mr Cogan therefore argued that while Bond’s offence had crossed the custody threshold, it should be classed as “medium culpability”.
Magistrates proceeded to hand Bond those six months in jail, but suspended the term for two years.
He will also complete up to 30 Rehabilitation Activity Requirement sessions with the probation service, and will pay court costs of £85 and a £154 victim surcharge.