A THUG who posted an explicit photo of his ex-partner online after twice assaulting the woman has been ordered to pay her compensation — and hit with a seven-year non-harassment order.

Scott Coulter used the image of his victim as his profile picture on messaging service WhatsApp and threatened to share it around Greenock.

Coulter, 35, was on bail not to approach or contact his ex when he repeatedly phoned her from a withheld number during the course of a 96-hour period last July.

After she answered one of the calls, he told her: "Unblock me on WhatsApp so you can see my profile picture.

"It's a picture of you.

"I'm going to share it about the town."

Coulter — who had previously been convicted of attacking the woman on two occasions on the same day — also threatened to send the image to members of her family, the sheriff court was told.

Sheriff Joseph Hughes remarked: "How disgusting is that behaviour?

"How degrading is that of your ex-partner?"

The sheriff has ordered Coulter to pay his victim £500.

He must also complete 200 hours of unpaid work and be kept under supervision in the community for three years whilst taking part in a drug treatment programme.

The court heard how Coulter been locked up on remand for the equivalent of an 18-month prison sentence.

Sheriff Hughes said of the seven-year non-harassment order: "You breach that order and you'll go back to where you've come from."

Coulter last year admitted to seizing the woman by her neck in what was described as 'a choking motion' as they were about to get into a taxi after leaving a restaurant in Langbank.

He assaulted her for a second time in Port Glasgow, with eyewitnesses seeing him pulling her arm, punching her to the ground, kicking her and pulling her by the hair.

Defence lawyer Edel McGinty said: "The root of his behaviour lies in alcohol.

"He accepts that the relationship is over and he has no intention of contacting the complainer again.

"Mr Coulter is at an age now where if he does not do something to address the issues that cause his offending behaviour he is just going to end up in prison again."

Sheriff Hughes placed Coulter on deferred sentence on another matter for an electronic tagging assessment to be carried out on his eventual new address following his release from custody to the Inverclyde Centre.

He is due back in court on March 16.