A Royal Marine wept after a fraudster who stole his identity in order to send lewd images of himself to women across Dorset has been jailed.

Graeme Brandon pretended to be Steele Saunders after stumbling upon the commando's Facebook account.

He used Gumtree to obtain mobile numbers of 27 random women before sending them explicit messages via WhatsApp.

The 44-year-old spent a year sending almost 30 messages, many of which contained graphic photographs of him, while using Mr Saunders' identity and profile picture.

A court heard the messages left the victims, who were aged between 27 and 75, feeling 'distressed and violated'.

Mr Saunders had his car vandalised by vigilantes and the mental stress of being wrongly accused led to him to quit the armed forces.

He attended Bournemouth Crown Court and broke down in tears after seeing the man who ruined his career sent to jail for 30 months.

After the hearing, Mr Saunders said: "The thought that people were doubting me was unbearable.

"There have been incidents when I was out with my family that people recognised my face and started shouting things like 'paedo' towards me.

"I have had my car damaged, nails in tyres and wiper blades pulled off.

"I have had numerous threats from people who contacted me believing I was responsible and I have felt helpless.

"As a direct result of what has happened it is hard to put down into words the effect this had had on my life and my mental health."

Mark Gammon for the CPS said: "This case has had a devastating impact on the man whose identity was stolen by Graeme Brandon.

"The victim had a successful career in the Royal Marines and was about to be deployed to a foreign country when people from his community and friends started angrily to contact him saying that they had received pictures of an explicit nature."

The court heard that Brandon, of Webster Road in Bournemouth, had never met Mr Saunders but stole data and a photograph from his Facebook page and began posing as him online in early 2017.

He found victims' mobile number on Gumtree after they had advertised items.

Brandon also threatened some of the women by telling them he 'knew where they lived' and that he was 'coming to get them'.

Dorset Police launched an investigation and traced the mobile phone number used back to Brandon. However, even after he was arrested and bailed, he continued to send messages.

Thomas Evans, defending, said Brandon's father died shortly before he committed the offences.

He said: "He was grieving and drinking heavily at the time and did not think about how his behaviour would impact his victims."

Brandon pleaded guilty to 28 counts of sending indecent images and one offence of unauthorised access to computer data.