A SOLDIER who created fake Facebook profiles in a five month campaign of harassment against his ex-fiancee has been jailed for 18 weeks.

Michael Oxley - described by Skipton magistrates as the 'lowest of the low' - now faces instant dismissal from the army while a restraining order bars him from contacting the woman for two years.

Oxley, 22, of Glista Mill, Broughton Road, Skipton, diagnosed last year with bipolar and on sick leave from the army, left his former fiancee needing medical help after subjecting her to a campaign of unwanted abusive phone calls and Facebook messages between January 1 and May 26 last year.

They included the creation of fake profiles after she blocked him on Facebook, in one of which he pretended to be her late grandfather, accusing her of being a disgrace to the family name.

Oxley, who continued to contact the woman in defiance of a police order handed out last April, also threatened to post naked pictures of her and posted pictures of burning houses.

He also posted messages on her work's Facebook page and lied to the army about them having a baby together and how it had died.

Oxley, who denied harassment without violence, was found guilty after trial at the Skipton court at the end of last month.

The woman gave evidence at the trial, from behind a screen, in which she described how she had begged him to stop and how his behaviour had left her changed and not wanting to leave the house.

The court heard he had started a relationship with the Skipton woman at the end of 2014 while on leave from the army after they had first known each other for some years.

They became engaged the following year, and set a date for their wedding in April, 2016, said prosecutor, Nadine Clough.

Towards the end of 2015, Oxley's mental health showed signs of deterioration and it became evident he had lied to the army about the couple having had a baby that had then died, said Miss Clough.

The woman had tried to support Oxley through his depression, but had ended the relationship at the end of 2015.

Glen Maude, mitigating, said Oxley's mother, from Keighley, had described the relationship at first as almost like a 'holiday romance'.

Oxley had been in the army since he was 18 years old and had been based in Catterick, Germany and Cyprus, where he could have been deployed to Afghanistan, but never had.

It had been his intention to make the army his career, but he suffered depression and anxiety and in February last year was diagnosed with bipolar.

The condition contributed to substantial mood swings and suicide attempts, said Miss Maude.

Oxley was currently under army psychiatric care and was due to receive a medical discharge from the army in April, unless he received any prison sentence, which would result in instant dismissal. Anything but a prison sentence, even a high level community sentence, would have meant a medical discharge and support from the army psychiatric team.

She said he had moved from his home in Keighley to Glista Mill in June last year because it was more convenient for Catterick, rather than it being in anyway close to where his former fiancee worked.

Magistrates told Oxley he had carried out a sustained period of harassment against the woman which had resulted in her needed medical help.

He had also ignored warnings from the police and had threatened to post naked pictures.

They sentenced him to 18 weeks and told him he would serve nine. After release, he will be subject to 12 months supervision. He will also be subject to a two year restraining order, barring him from direct or indirect contact with his former fiancee, from entering the road where she lives or her place of work. He will also have to pay surcharge of £115.