Facebook threat ex is a free man
Lloyd Pearce, aged 22, insulted and threatened his former partner, her mother and uncle face to face, via the social networking site, by phone and text over a month.
He had been warned he could be jailed after being found guilty at a trial where he failed to appear.
Pearce, of Fletemoor Road, St Budeaux, had earlier denied harassing the woman between February 17 and March 18.
Magistrates gave Pearce a 12-month community order including 120 hours' unpaid work.
He will also be under the supervision of the probation service for six months.
The court also granted an indefinite restraining order against Pearce, banning him from contacting his ex-girlfriend or going within 100 metres of her home or work.
The trial heard from the woman that Pearce had phoned her at her mother's city home saying that he was going to kill them.
Magistrates were told that he had left offensive messages on the wall of her Facebook page – an area where friends can make comments on a personal page.
The woman told the court: "The messages said I was dead and rotten. They were quite sexual. It was horrible. I was upset and shocked."
She also received threatening text messages from Pearce where he threatened to kill her uncle.
The woman said that she later discovered further messages on her Facebook page from Pearce and also on his own page. The messages said he would 'slice her uncle's throat'.
