A man plastered naked images of his ex across a bus stop in what a Swindon judge labelled the “stuff of nightmares”.

Sam Farley bombarded his former partner with almost 300 calls after their relationship broke down in the spring and she blocked him on social media.

Swindon Crown Court heard how the 26-year-old used his mother’s Facebook account to message his ex’s aunt at the end of April when he couldn’t get through, asking her to get his former girlfriend to contact him.

He became increasingly agitated over the course of the day he was sending the aunt social media messages.

At 4.51pm he laid down his final ultimatum: respond by 5pm or he would take action.

When she failed to respond he sent a cropped photo of his ex. The next day he threatened to put the picture up around the town. Other images were sent partially obscured by angry face emojis.

He sent a picture of the intimate image posted on a bus stop, writing “that’s the eighth one” – implying he had pasted another seven around the town.

A member of the public found one of the images on a bus stop, tearing it down and calling the police to complain. A friend of the victim found another one of the pictures in a hedge.

In a victim impact statement read to the court by prosecutor Hannah Squire, Farley’s ex said she had considered harming herself in the weeks since he was arrested and had taken to sleeping downstairs with the dog. “I don’t know how to explain how I feel. I cannot find the words. I feel distressed, exposed, violated,” she wrote.

Appearing before the court via video link from HMP Bristol, Farley, of Lincoln Green, Melksham, pleaded guilty to disclosing a private sexual photograph with intent to cause distress and harassment. He had been convicted in 2016 for harassing a former partner, but did not complete a thinking skills programme ordered as part of his sentence.

Defending, Steven Molloy said his client suffered from ADHD, making him act impulsively, and had been using cannabis. Since being remanded in custody three months ago he had stopped using the class B drug. His mother had written a letter in support of his mitigation.

The barrister said Farley was remorseful. However, that claim was shot down by Judge Jason Taylor QC who pointed to a passage in the probation report that said the defendant felt “quite” guilty about his offending.

Sentencing him to six months’ imprisonment suspended for two years, Judge Taylor told Farley that what he had done to his ex was “utterly appalling”.

“This is the stuff of nightmares, especially in the digital world where you lose control and matters can remain online for the for the foreseeable future in the absence of strenuous efforts to try and get them taken down,” he said.

“You breached an intimate trust in the most vicious and spiteful way open to you.”

Farley must do 250 hours of unpaid work and complete a domestic abuse programme and 20 rehabilitation days with the probation service.

A restraining order bans Farley from contacting his ex for seven years.