POLICE have released the custody image of a man who blackmailed school girls online to send nude photos on social media and threatened to publish them.

Thomas Martin, of Launcelot Court, Andover, was jailed on October 15 for two years at Winchester Crown Court, after he set up a Snapchat profile and asked school girls for indecent images.

Once he had indecent images of two girls, Martin used them to pressure the girls into sending more, by threatening to show the images publicly if they didn’t comply.

Russell Pyne, prosecuting, said that Martin also sent images of his penis and made his victims watch him masturbate.

Mr Pyne said: “(One of the victim’s) asked him to delete what he had. The defendant replied saying that he wouldn’t but also would post them on four social media sites, Snapchat, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.”

The other girl said that she would go to the police, but he threatened her saying “he would ruin her life more than she could ruin his”. He sent an indecent image of the girl to her friend.

Martin previously pleaded guilty to two counts of blackmail between May 1 and October 21, 2019, disclosing private sexual photographs with intent to cause distress and three charges of making an indecent photograph of a child.

In mitigation, Tamasin Graham said that Martin feels guilty for what he has done.

Ms Graham continued: “This was a low patch in his life where he describes his life having spiralled out of control.”

She said that Martin needed someone to talk to and he found that in the victims but now realises that was an “inappropriate coping mechanism”.

The 30-year-old was also made subject of a sexual harm prevention order until October 2026.