• Scottish teenager had rocky relationship with boyfriend before they split
• She was then phoned by her friends and told he had posted picture online
• Victim phoned police after her ex refused to take down the photo
• Ex-boyfriend has now admitted causing distress and could face jail
• Victims speaks out warning others to be careful with their partners

The couple started seeing each other in September 2013 but they split up after McGinlay, of Moodiesburn, Lanarkshire, became possessive and paranoid, a court has heard.

Miss Carrigan later took McGinlay back when he said he had changed and they continued seeing each other until they split up for a second time, weeks later.

But Miss Carrigan was left devastated when friends contacted her to say there was explicit pictures of her and McGinlay on Facebook, which had been viewed hundreds of times.

She begged McGinlay to take down the pictures but he refused and she called the police.

Robert McGinlay is due to be sentenced later this month after he admitted an offense in relation to his treatment of Miss Carrigan

He is due to be sentenced later this month at Airdrie Sheriff Court after admitting he acted in a threatening or abusive manner and caused fear or alarm towards Miss Carrigan by posting a sexually graphic image of her on a social media website.

Miss Carrigan has now waived the anonymity she was given by the court to issue a warning to other unsuspecting women.

She said: ‘Robert was so nice, one of the nicest I had ever met to be honest.

‘We started seeing each other but within two weeks he was acting weird. He was very possessive and always wanting to know where I had been and who I was seeing.

‘We split up but he asked to see me again and after promising to change the relationship started again.

‘But it didn’t take long for him to start acting weird again.’

She added: ‘We split again in December after he was drunk and got verbally abusive, calling me all different names.

‘He sent me a text telling me to look at his new photo on Facebook. I was at a pal’s house and as I went to look my sister phoned saying she had seen the photo.

‘I phoned Robert to ask him to take it down otherwise I was phoning the police and he refused so I hung up and phoned them straight away.

‘I was absolutely horrified and humiliated that he had done this. I had no idea he had been filming us together. It was such a betrayal.

‘I had no idea what to do, I honestly freaked out, I just went numb.’

McGinlay, a warehouse worker, told officers he put up the picture out of spite after the relationship ended.

McGinlay had not guilty pleas accepted to charges that he posted a video of him and Miss Carrigan and sent sexual written communications to her.

A picture of the couple together during their relationship, which turned sour in December 2013

Miss Carrigan has a new partner but revealed she has a strict no phones rule in the bedroom and has issued a warning to other women.

She added: ‘I have a new partner that I live with, but there’s a lot of trust issues within the relationship. I have a no phone rule in the bedroom if we’re going to be together.

‘In my circumstances I didn’t know but a lot of girls allow it and don’t expect a guy they trusted to go and do it so all I can say is be careful.

‘Just be aware of what’s happening around you in the bedroom and anywhere else for that matter.’

CRACKDOWN: GOVERNMENT’S PLEDGE TO TACKLE REVENGE PORN

Luke King was jailed for posting the explicit image

Those convicted of revenge porn – the distribution of a private sexual image of someone without their consent and with the intention of causing them distress – could face two years in prison under new laws.

It will be made a specific offense, covering the sharing of images both online and offline, in the Criminal Justice and Courts Bill, which is currently going through Parliament. 

It will mean that images posted to social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter will be caught by the offense, as well as those that are shared via text message. 

Images shared via email, on a website or the distribution of physical copies will also be caught.

Victims of revenge porn have previously found it difficult to have pictures removed from the internet.

Many sites where the images are hosted are based outside the UK, and requests to remove content are often ignored. In some cases, asking for removal results in more attention being brought to the images.

The move to clamp down on ‘revenge porn’ came after 149 cases, the vast majority of them involving women victims, were reported over two and a half years. Only six led to prosecutions.

However, the new rules do not affect the consensual ‘sexting’ of images by under-18s. This is already illegal – but police cannot monitor mobile photo messages. 

Last year, Luke King, 21, of Nottingham, became the first person to be jailed for revenge porn offenses in the UK. After his three-year relationship ended he posted a number of explicit images of his former partner, and changed his WhatsApp icon to one of the images.

King was eventually prosecuted under the Protection from Harassment Act 1997 after he ignored two police warnings not to share the X-rated images and was jailed for 12 weeks.