A Douglas man has admitted harassing his former partner by bombarding her with e-mails and threatening to publish explicit images of her.

Peter Michael Birchall, of Richmond Close, continued his harassment of his ex even after being warned by police.

The 50-year-old admitted an offence of conduct amounting to harassment and will be sentenced on October 24 after a probation report and psychiatric report have been completed.

He appeared before magistrates on Thursday.

Prosecutor Barry Swain told the court how Birchall had been in a relationship with the woman for around 18 months when it ended in March this year.

She said that they had argued regularly and said that she was ’tired of walking on eggshells’.

She told Birchall she wanted no further contact with him but said that he had sent her 27 emails after that which prompted her to call the police.

Birchall was spoken to by the police on March 31 but continued to contact the woman, sending emails and even threatening to publish explicit images of her.

On April 19 he was given a Police Information Notice (PIN) to warn him about his harassing behaviour.

However, Birchall was still said to have called the woman 18 times, sent her email, texts and Facebook messages, sometimes using aliases.

He was interviewed by police on April 25 and told officers that he had been struggling with the break-up as he felt he had been treated unfairly.

Birchall admitted emailing the woman a number of times and said on the evening he received the PIN he got drunk and could not remember what he had done.

He also admitted using aliases to contact her via email and Facebook.

He apologised and said that he would not contact her again.

However, on May 12 the woman said she received another email from an anonymous account which she thought was from Birchall.

Birchall denied sending this email.

He pleaded guilty to the harassment charge but said that he had not made contact on May 12.

Magistrates ruled that this disputed fact would not make a material difference to sentencing.

Bail was granted in the sum of £500 with a condition not to contact his ex-partner, co-operate with probation and to co-operate with the preparation of the psychiatric report.