Feminist campaigner Caroline Criado-Perez said she had been through a “terrifying and scarring” experience, after a man and a woman were jailed for sending her abusive messages on Twitter.

Isabella Sorley, 23, and John Nimmo, 25, bombarded her with rape and death threats last year after she led a successful campaign using social media for a female figure to appear on a Bank of England note.

Sorley, who according to her lawyer was also a “victim” of new technology, was jailed for 12 weeks, and “social recluse” Nimmo was jailed for eight weeks.

Judge Howard Riddle told them it was “hard to imagine more extreme threats”.

Ms Criado-Perez, was subjected to fresh Twitter abuse after today’s sentencing, which led to one user having their account suspended.

She did not attend the hearing at Westminster Magistrates’ Court in London but in a statement said that “hearing the outcome has made me realise how tense and anxious I have been feeling”.

“I did not attend the sentencing as I didn’t feel I could cope with being in court with them – and I didn’t feel sure that the judge would understand how terrifying and scarring the whole experience has been, which again is not something I could face,” she said.

“I feel immensely relieved that the judge clearly has understood the severity of the impact this abuse has had on me.”

Sorley, from Newcastle, and Nimmo, from South Shields, Tyne and Wear, pleaded guilty on January 7 to sending menacing tweets, admitting they were among the users of 86 Twitter accounts from which Ms Criado-Perez had received abusive messages.

University graduate Sorley, who has a 2:1 degree in creative advertising, used Twitter to tell Ms Criado-Perez to “f*** off and die you worthless piece of cr**”, “go kill yourself” and “rape is the last of your worries”.

The court heard she has 25 previous convictions, the majority for being drunk and disorderly.

Maybe there’s an issue about the technology and Twitter and people understanding what it must be like on the other end

While on bail for this case, she also committed two offences of assaulting a police officer and is awaiting sentence for an assault on New Year’s Day, the court heard.

Her lawyer Sean Caulfield said Sorley was a “victim” of technology as she did not understand the impact of what she was doing.

“She understands what it must have been like now. At the time, it seems, she did not,” he said.

“Maybe there’s an issue about the technology and Twitter and people understanding what it must be like on the other end.

“She is a victim of that, if nothing else, a victim of a lack of understanding of what this new technology can do and how powerful it is.”

Nimmo, who the court heard has a “moderate learning difficulty”, told Ms Criado-Perez to “shut up b****” and “ya not that gd looking to rape u be fine” followed by “I will find you (smiley face)” and then the message “rape her nice ass”.

His lawyer Paul Kennedy described him as a “somewhat sad individual” who is “effectively a social recluse”.

Mr Kennedy said, when Nim-mo’s original tweet was responded to and retweeted, it encouraged him to send more as he saw it as an “indication of popularity”.

Unemployed Nimmo also targeted his abuse at Stella Creasy, the Labour MP for Walthamstow, with the message: “The things I cud do to u (smiley face)”, calling her “dumb blond b****”.