Two men who demanded Ј50,000 from a Royal Family member in exchange for tapes featuring gay sex claims have been jailed for blackmail.
Ian Strachan and Sean McGuigan were jailed for five years each for attempting to extort money from the unidentified royal.
His identity had been concealed during the two-and-a-half-week-long trial.
Strachan, 31, and McGuigan, 41, both of London, had denied charges of demanding money with menaces.
Among the claims in the recordings were that the married royal, referred to as witness A, performed a sex act on his employee, Live: Uefa Cup semi-final ...
Winehouse cautioned over assault ...
Winehouse facing police questions ...
Pair 'tried to blackmail royal' ...
Livingstone cleared on donations ... witness D, at a party.
Strachan, who is originally from Aberdeen, in Scotland, and McGuigan had used the tapes to demand money from the royal after trying, unsuccessfully, to sell them to newspapers.
Mark Ellison QC, prosecuting, told the court that it had been a "classic example of blackmail".
The two men were arrested in a sting operation at a London hotel by undercover police officers last September.
The Old Bailey heard that Strachan was a "Walter Mitty"-type fantasist who routinely claimed to be a friend of royals and lived an extravagant lifestyle.
McGuigan, who is a recovering alcoholic, contacted A's representatives last July and was present as the tapes were played to an undercover officer, who posed as a royal aide, in a meeting shortly before the pair were arrested.
Following the guilty verdict, Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) reviewing lawyer Mark Carroll said: "Although they claimed to be acting in the interests of the victim, the jury rejected this story and agreed with the prosecution that they were simply interested in the money.
"Prosecutions for blackmail are rare but it is a serious offence which can involve the victims making themselves vulnerable in order that the case comes to trial."
He added that the CPS "will not hesitate to prosecute blackmail cases and we will always seek to protect the anonymity of blackmail victims".
The trial is thought to have cost at least Ј1m.
(BBC)
<< Back