Ellie Melaugh is thought to be the first woman to be convicted of targeting a man since the so-called revenge porn legislation was introduced a year ago

A jilted saleswoman turned her ex’s life into a ‘nightmare’ after posting explicit images of him on the internet.

Ellie Melaugh is believed to be the first female convicted of targeting a man since so-called revenge porn legislation was introduced a year ago.

The 20-year-old uploaded intimate photographs of her former boyfriend to Facebook and Twitter, and set up a fake profile on dating site Plenty of Fish.

The images, accompanied by his name and full address, were seen by the victim’s mother and grandparents as well as countless strangers.

He received hundreds of calls from Melaugh and was forced to repeatedly change his number to avoid contact from her and others.

The offences were so serious she was given a suspended jail sentence when she admitted posting revenge pornography and harassment.

Speaking last night, the man, who cannot be named for legal reasons, told how he was suddenly flooded with phone calls from friends and family warning him the pictures were online.

‘It was a terrible ordeal,’ he said. ‘She turned my life into a living nightmare.

‘Everyone could see she was trying to destroy me. I was living with my grandmother at the time and she was suffering from cancer. The whole thing just spiralled out of control.’

Melaugh’s harassment began after the man, who is in his late 20s, attempted to end his five-month relationship with her in November 2014.

At first she refused to leave the property they shared with the man’s grandmother in South London but after eventually moving out she started to pester him.

One day last June, the man discovered his Facebook profile had been taken over and intimate photographs had been posted by his account. Other images were posted on his Twitter account alongside the location of his home, including the message: ‘Come and see me boys I live at this address.’

Melaugh also threatened to burn down her ex’s house and messaged his sister, saying: ‘I hope that your little girl gets cancer.’

The victim said he was forced to leave his job as a manager at a respected national firm as a result of the attacks.

He said: ‘She was a childish woman who would strop, stamp her feet and cry if she did not get her way.

‘Near the end of the relationship I felt scared of her, she would not leave me alone. One night we rowed and I said I would go to the pub so she could calm down. When I turned around she was eating my money to stop me. She had a £10 note in her mouth and swallowed it.’

Melaugh was handed a 12-week jail term, suspended for two years at Wimbledon Magistrates Court

Melaugh, of Bromley, South East London, admitted a revenge pornography offence and harassment at Wimbledon Magistrates’ Court last month. Sentencing her to a 12-week jail term, suspended for two years, magistrate Rachel Lipscomb described Melaugh as ‘vulnerable’. She also imposed an indefinite restraining order preventing her from contacting the victim.

From April last year a law made it illegal to share sexually explicit images without the subject’s consent. The maximum penalty is two years’ jail.