Blackmailer jailed for threatening to expose ex-call girl

A MAN who threatened to expose a middle-class professional’s secret former life as an escort was yesterday jailed for 14 months.

John Menzie set up an elaborate plot to try to force the woman to hand him £10,000 to keep her sex-worker secret hidden from family and friends.

The 56-year-old planned to stage a moviestyle ‘drop’ for the money which he needed to pay off substantial debts.

But his victim went to the police and his scheme, branded ‘amateurish’ by his own lawyer, unravelled.

Solicitor Gary McIlravey, defending, told Dundee Sheriff Court: ‘It is quite clear he was going through a difficult period in his life and had substantial debts.

‘It is a serious offence but this was conducted in a fairly amateurish way. It was not well thought through.’

Jailing Menzie, and imposing a ten-year non-harassment order, Sheriff Alastair Carmichael said: ‘Your solicitor described what you did as amateurish, but it was still organised and planned by you.

‘This was a particularly unpleasant case of attempted extortion, because of the nature of the threats to reveal private and personal information.

‘The only option here is a custodial sentence in order to express society’s disapproval of this type of behaviour and the only adequate punishment for this type of offence.’

The court heard that Menzie told the woman to pay him £10,000 in ‘used notes’ to avoid her secret being exposed to her employers and members of her family.

He posted her a letter which read: ‘Do you remember the old saying, your past is creeping up on you? Well, yours is about to rear its ugly head.’

Menzie discovered the woman’s secret and claimed he had video footage of her in a hotel room.

Fiscal depute Eilidh Robertson said: ‘For a period in 2016 she worked as an escort by advertising her services online under a pseudonym.

‘No one in her life is aware that she has undertaken this work, including her partner and her children.

‘The accused found out about the work she had undertaken as a friend of his had spotted her on the adult website.

‘On the morning of February 4, 2020, the complainer saw a letter sitting on her doormat addressed to her. The letter went on to claim the writer had hired the complainer as an escort and had secretly filmed the encounter between them in a hotel room.’

The letter went on to say the writer had discovered the woman’s identity, adding: ‘Can you imagine what this will do to you and your family? Employment? Your life? So what price would you put on this?’

The court was told it set out the writer’s demand for £10,000 and warned that the woman, who cannot be named for legal reasons, had less than a week to pay up.

Menzie’s letter said: ‘Warning – you will not discuss this with anyone.

‘I will tell you where you make the drop. You will be followed so make sure you are alone. There will be someone with a black crash helmet on.’

Miss Robertson said the complainer was extremely worried by the letter and the impact it could have on her family, who had no idea she had worked as an escort.

She waited until she had time alone then reported the matter to the police.

When CCTV was reviewed, a person matching Menzie’s description was seen lurking near her home around the time the letter was delivered.

He admitted that he had come up with the scheme when arrested because he had serious debts.

The fiscal said: ‘He said that although he claimed in the letter to have a video, this is false.’

Menzie, of Dundee, admitted trying to extort £10,000 from the woman in Dundee and Perthshire on February 4 this year.

‘Imagine what this will do’