A Moray oil worker who threatened to publish “revenge porn” featuring his former girlfriend has been spared a prison sentence.
Peter Thomson, from Lossiemouth, bombarded a former partner with phone calls and social media messages after the couple broke up.
The woman initially ignored the 53-year-old’s repeated attempts at contact until she received an intimate picture of herself from him – which “implied” he was going to distribute it on social media.
Thomson’s defence solicitor Iain Maltman stressed his client had no intention of publishing the image.
Yesterday, he was sentenced to unpaid work for the threat when he appeared for sentence at Elgin Sheriff Court.
But Sheriff Olga Pasportnikov told the offshore worker there was “no question” he would have been jailed had he followed through with his threat of publishing the image.
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Thomson repeatedly tried to contact the victim from the beginning of June, which culminated in sending her the intimate photograph on August 30.
Fiscal Rowena Carlton said: “She received 10 e-mails in three days from the accused. She did reply to one of them by asking him to leave her alone.
“Prior to that she received a number of Facebook and WhatsApp messages and she blocked his number. She then received e-mails.”
She said one e-mail had a photo attached with an image of the woman partially naked with accompanying text that said ‘please share’.
She said: “This led her to believe the image would be sent to others.”
Mr Maltman explained his client agreed with his description of the events as “abhorrent” and described him as “ashamed and embarrassed” at his actions.
He said: “This was a relatively short-lived relationship which ended during one of Mr Thomson’s trips offshore. He accepts his behaviour in dealing with his frustrations was completely out of line.”
Sheriff Pasportnikov said: “This is colloquially known as revenge porn and is something that courts take a very dim view of.”
Thomson, of Shore Street in Lossiemouth, was sentenced to 100 hours of unpaid work, was placed under supervision for 18 months and ordered to pay £500 compensation to his victim after admitting charges of engaging in a course of conduct likely to cause fear or alarm and threatening to disclose a photo of an intimate situation that had not previously been disclosed to the public or with her consent.
