Ministers plan to make threats to send revenge porn a punishable offence. 

The Government said laws to target revenge porn will also be expanded to include threats to disclose intimate images with the intention to cause distress.

The move would seek to criminalise those who threaten to leak sex tapes or other explicit content of their partners. 

Disclosing private sexual photographs and films with intent to cause distress became an offence in 2015.

But those who even threaten to share such material could face two years in prison under the plans.

Refuge has been lobbying for the change in a campaign supported by former Love Island contestant Zara McDermott, herself a victim of revenge porn.

The Essex star, who fronted a BBC documentary about the issue, said life became “unbearable” and she considered taking her own life.

Ms McDermott said she is “thrilled” about the amendment, adding: “My life when I left the Love Island villa was turned upside down as a result of the sharing of intimate images.”

Zara McDermott: Revenge Porn aried on BBC 3 last month and will also be shown on BBC One in March.

Read more: Essex reality star says revenge porn ordeal as a teen caused her '10 years of pain'

Ministers also plan to make non-fatal strangulation a specific criminal offence punishable by five years’ imprisonment after coming under pressure from campaigners.

Also covering suffocation, the Government said it would introduce the legislation as an amendment to the Domestic Abuse Bill being debated in Parliament.

It will seek to address concerns that perpetrators can avoid punishment because the strangulation can at times leave no visible injury, making it hard to prosecute under existing laws.

Legislation will also be strengthened around controlling or coercive behaviour to no longer make it a requirement for abusers and victims to cohabit.

Justice Secretary Robert Buckland said: “This bill provides a once-in-a-generation opportunity to strengthen our response to domestic abuse and its many forms.”