A Wirral man jailed for posting "revenge porn" images of an ex-girlfriend on line has lost his appeal against his sentence.

53-year-old David Jones was put behind bars for 16 weeks by Liverpool magistrates a week ago after admitting his behaviour and became the first person on Merseyside to be sentenced under a law to tackle the problem of revenge porn.

He appealed against his prison term with his barrister urging the bench at the city's crown court to suspend it but this was rejected.

Upholding the sentence, which also involved paying £1,000 compensation and costs totalling £345, the Recorder of Liverpool, Judge Clement Goldstone, QC, said the case was "an example of 21st century technology used irresponsibly."

He continued, "This is early life for this offence and the court needs to send a strong message to the public that is is extremely serious and that even people of previous good character and in employment involved in this sort of activity can expect to receive a custodial sentence."

The judge, who sat with two magistrates, said that the fact he had posted the images on five separate sites showed determination and sophistication."

They ordered Jones, of Mockbeggar Drive,Wallasey, to pay the £330 costs of the appeal hearing. He had pleaded guilty to five charges of disclosing private sexual photographs with intent to cause distress.

Michael Stephenson, prosecuting, said that Jones, a married man with children, posted 13 sexual photographs of the woman, some involving sexual activity, on social media and porn web sites.

They had been in a relationship 20 years ago, during which he took the photos, and they stayed in touch after it ended. The victim was first alerted by a friend to the pictures, posted under fake Facebook and Twitter accounts in her name, on May 29 this year.

She confronted Jones, who apologised and said he would take them down but she she later discovered the pictures had been shared on a number of websites. She reported him to the police and has been left suffering from depression since the offence.

Jones claimed that they were still in a relationship, which she denies, and he said he thought putting the images on line would put excitement into their affair.

The court heard that at least one of the photographs is still on line and Judge Goldstone commented "the genie is out of the bottle".

He said that no-one committing such an offence was unaware of the psychological harm and have any idea how long the victim may be hurt.