Preston man in prison for blackmail

A MAN who made nearly £90,000 by threatening two women that he would post their intimate photographs and videos online has been sentenced to more than seven years in jail.

However, Zehshan Mahmood (right), who was part of an organised crime syndicate, shared some of the women’s visuals on the internet despite taking money from them.

Preston crown court heard that the 30-year-old first asked for money from the two women citing financial difficulties. He later pressured them into giving him more money.

He used a web of lies to get what he wanted.

When the first woman shared her intimate pictures and videos with him in 2017, Mahmood saw an opportunity to blackmail her, reports said. He sought money from her and then contacted her via Instagram using an alias. She was forced to give him £20,000 as he threatened to post her photographs and films online.

She told the court Mahmood also threatened her family.

The second woman said she had disclosed to Mahmood her intimate sexual experience with a boyfriend, the BBC reported.

Mahmood told her later he had a film of the encounter and would share it with her family and friends unless she gave him £7,000. He also demanded she send him sex pictures, films and texts, and then told her it would cost her money to stop them from being published. This led the woman sending him more than £66,000 over three years. Despite this, he shared her videos online, the court heard.

Officers of Greater Manchester Police and Lancashire Police arrested him last year.

Mahmood, who pleaded guilty to blackmail and disclosing sexual photos and films of the victims, has been jailed for seven years and three months.

Detective Constable Luke Brundrett said Mahmood “operated a web of lies and manipulated the victims to get what he wanted, when he wanted”.