WHEN Sherene Mullins found that her ex-boyfriend had posted intimate graphic photos and videos she had sent him while they were together online – her stomach lurched.

“I felt physically sick,” she says. “And when I saw the site, I cried my eyes out. I didn’t know what to do.”

At first Sherene, 30, thought that her ex had just set up a fake Twitter account using her images, but she later found the pictures had also been uploaded to a revenge porn site – which describes itself as a ‘moral free file host’ and boasts more than 1.5 million visitors a day.

She felt completely destroyed when she saw naked photos of herself she had shared with her boyfriend, in trust, posted on the website, captioned not only with her full name and links to her social networking sites, but with vile offensive descriptions such as ‘tramp’ and ‘Aids.’

But there was nothing she could do about it – she would later discover her ex-boyfriend had broken no law. And it wasn’t just the images themselves. Sherene became too scared to leave her home after being targeted by dozens of Internet sex trolls who inundated her with crude messages.

“It’s been horrible,” says the student and single mum-of-one, from Thornhill.

“I’ve had some really nasty messages calling me all sorts of names, and because my ex had posted my name, address and Twitter details alongside the pictures – for a long time I didn’t want to leave the house. I didn’t feel safe. I got one message saying ‘I will find you.’

“I couldn’t walk past anyone in the street without wondering if they had seen my photos, or if they were watching me because they had.”

It was on Twitter that Sherene first discovered the depths her ex-boyfriend had stooped to when one of her friends sent her a text to see why she had another account.

Sherene, who has a two-year-old son, logged online to find a graphic naked photo of her plastered across the top of the site.

She reported the account to the police and Twitter, who removed it straight away, but as soon as her ex noticed he put another offensive profile up, which Twitter removed again.

“When I looked at it, there were all these photos of me naked and links to the porn site,” she says. “It was very upsetting and left me completely shaken.

“I started suffering from panic attacks and flashbacks, and was very close to a complete breakdown.

“I’ve asked the website that is hosting the images to take them down so many times, but I never get anywhere despite the fact that they are breaking their own terms and conditions.”

The site’s registered domain appears to be in the US. It is user contributed and boasts that ‘anything legal is hosted forever’ adding ‘if you want to blame someone for the content on this site, blame the freaks of the world – not us’.

Sherene explains how she complained to Google, who removed links to the site and, although the police explained there was little they could do, she says they were very helpful.

“The police can only work within the confines of the law, but they did try to help, and Google were great at making sure typing my name into its search engine didn’t link to the site, but it shouldn’t be like that – there really should be a law in place to protect people who find themselves in this situation. It’s wrong that there hasn’t been.”

Up until now, people who posted revenge porn online had broken no laws, but that is set to change. In July, an amendment was tabled proposing new clauses be inserted into the Criminal Courts and Justice Bill, making the publication of sexually explicit images without permission a criminal offence.

The legislation is currently going through Parliament and will cover any private sexual image of someone that is circulated, both on and offline, without their consent and designed to cause distress, making it punishable by up to two years in prison.

Sherene has been sharing her story and campaigning for a change in the law since she first became a victim of revenge porn.

The National Stalking Helpline and UK Safer Internet Centre has reported a dramatic rise in people reporting incidents in the last year and victims are often forced to pay dedicated revenge porn sites to remove photos and videos.

“In America, people have committed suicide over it,” adds Sherene. “I was lucky that I was supported by my family and friends, not forgetting all the doctors, counsellors and police officers.

“With this digital media age so many people are becoming victims to this disgusting crime. But since speaking out I feel stronger – I understand myself more.

Talking about what I went through really helps me and I hope that it will help other people.

“I’m hoping with time I can learn to trust men again, but I would say to anyone who is considering sharing intimate pictures with a partner to think twice and not do it as they could end up online.

“Spreading awareness of revenge porn has given me a purpose in my life, and whether people talk to a charity, like Women’s Aid, to someone who has been through similar, or to their friends or family – talking will help people to know that they are not alone.

“I now see myself as a survivor, rather than a victim.”

A permanent reminder

Daily Echo:

AS part of the process of dealing with what she went through, Sherene has designed a tattoo for her thigh, with the help of Steve Mitchell from Southampton studio, Ink’d Up.

“The naked lady represents me stripped bare,” she explains. “With heaven and hell to show that everyone has a good and a bad side – it all depends on the life you choose and the actions you take.

“The hour glass shows the hands of time, and how it is something that shouldn’t be wasted. The roses depict beauty in life, but also the thorns a rose has to show the pain that sometimes comes with it.

“The birds show me spreading my wings and freedom. “So you can also see why my tattoo has a very special meaning and is a way to express the things I’ve been through and yet I think I have
come out stronger on the other side.

“I am the person I am today because of what I have been through.”

Revenge porn - the facts

Daily Echo: Is there anything Jennifer Lawrence can't do? Now she's a got a hit singleJennifer Lawrence

REVENGE porn appears to have started in America in 2010 when Hunter Moore started the website, Is Anyone Up?

It featured revealing photos and videos and many of the subjects were outraged, claiming the explicit photos had been hacked from their personal computers or shared with former boyfriends or
girlfriends, and been posted as a form of revenge.

Because of this, the site’s content became known as ‘revenge porn’.

Even some celebrities have fallen victim to it.

This year Jennifer Lawrence, pictured, Selena Gomez and Kirsten Duntz were among more than 100 celebrities to have naked photos posted online.

And in the UK last month, Luke King, 21, became the first person jailed for revenge porn after posting an intimate picture of his ex-girlfriend on WhatsApp.

King, from Nottingham, was prosecuted under the Protection from Harassment Act 1997 after he ignored two police warnings not to share the images.

He pleaded guilty to harassment and another charge of failing to answer police bail and was sentenced to 12 weeks in prison.