A STALKER terrorised his ex-girlfriend in a campaign of hate-filled abuse — threatening to burn her face with acid and blow up her home and car.

Twisted James McEwan was so consumed with rage against the Port woman that he told her he'd take a sword to her private parts and also hack off her breasts if she met anyone else.

McEwan, 30, even posted a series of intimate pictures of his ex online and left her fearing for her life by targeting her mother's phone with a string of violent threats.

Greenock Sheriff Court heard how he turned nasty following the end of his 11-month relationship with his victim.

Prosecutor Colin West described menacing McEwan's course of intimidating conduct — which took place between May 27 and August 16 last year — as 'relentless'.

Mr West said: "He told her that he would throw acid in her face, adding, 'I'll never stop'."

The fiscal depute told the court: "In a message to the complainer's mum, the accused stated, 'I'll be up the road soon to put acid right in your daughter's face'."

McEwan — who committed similar offences against another woman in 2015 — conducted his latest vindictive campaign remotely after moving to England in the wake of the break-up.

He posted a 'collage' of 17 naked and intimate images of the woman on three social media platforms — Snapchat, Whatsapp and Facebook — alongside disgusting derogatory names for her.

McEwan set up a fake Facebook profile in the name of his ex and used a picture of her private parts as its cover photo, the court was told.

In one message to his victim, he stated: "I'm going to throw acid in your face.

"When I go to jail for this, when I get out, I'll still be back for you — I'll never stop."

The woman was so 'upset and humiliated' that she blocked McEwan from her mobile phone and also disconnected her landline due to the torrent of abuse.

But that didn't stop the stalker from finding a way to get at her because he simply switched to sending further messages to her mother's phone.

McEwan sent pictures of a railway station and a ticket booth as he made out that he was travelling back to Port Glasgow from London to 'make her life hell' and 'break her neck'.

Most of his calls to the mother's phone went unanswered, which 'angered' him and he demanded that his ex contact him.

McEwan told the woman's mum: "If I don't speak to her in the next two minutes I'm posting everything I have."

Another message read: "I'm on my way to outside her work. If she doesn't answer me I'll slit her throat and burn her house down."

Referring to another man, McEwan also wrote: "We will see who has the last laugh. I'll stab the life out of him and anyone else who comes near me."

Fiscal depute Mr West said: "There were hundreds of calls and texts."

McEwan — who is remanded in custody on the matter — sniggered in the dock as the prosecutor struggled with the vernacular of his messages and the stalker sat slouched with the collar of his sweatshirt pulled up to cover his nose and mouth.

Mr West said: "The railway pictures generated anxiety and fear for the complainer because she believed that the accused was coming to carry out his previously threatened violence.

"The complainer was in fear for her life."

McEwan pleaded guilty through lawyer Edel McGinty to a lengthy indictment, which included a threat to kill his ex and himself.

The court heard that when he was told by police that he would be prosecuted for stalking, McEwan replied: "You make it sound bad, don't you? I wasn't even in Scotland when I did it."

Mr West tendered a victim impact statement from the woman as he sought a non-harassment order for a maximum five-year period.

Sheriff Derek Hamilton has deferred sentence until February 7 but warned McEwan that he is heading for prison for a long time.

The sheriff noted that McEwan's 2015 conviction involved included the imposition of a five-year non-harassment order.

He said: "I am concerned whether there is a deep-seated pattern of behaviour here.

"You are likely to receive a lengthy custodial sentence."