Woman blackmailed friend with false abuse claim

A MOTHER demanded a former friend pay her £3,000 – or she would go public with a bogus child abuse allegation.

The 37-year-old woman said she believed it was the most “civil” way of dealing with the situation.

But a jury at Birmingham Crown Court rejected the explanation and found her guilty of blackmail.

And after the verdict Judge Martin Hurst told her: “I don’t know why you fought this case or what world you live in.

“If that message you sent wasn’t blackmail, I don’t know what is.”

He described what the woman had done as “extremely odd behaviour” and adjourned sentence until October 8 for a psychiatric report.

Giving evidence, she maintained her approach had been justified to punish the man, who it was found had done nothing wrong.

The defendant had been friends with the man for 15 years but they had not been in touch for 18 months.

On February 20, 2019, he received a message on Facebook Messenger.

“She informed him her daughter had made an allegation of sexual abuse about him and that he should pay her £3,000 to avoid others hearing about these allegations or the matter being reported to the police,” said Miss Rachel Pennington, prosecuting.

The defendant told the man that he was sick and disgusting.

“It is now time for you to suffer the consequences of your actions. I have not yet told anyone what was going on,” she said in the message.

“If the money is not paid by April 20 this is going viral, to your dad, your sister and everyone who knows you.”

She told him the money was for a holiday of a lifetime for her daughter.

The man had been shocked and distressed at receiving the message and an investigation by the police resulted in no action being taken against him.

Giving evidence, the defendant said her daughter had told her about the abuse but she had not gone to the police because she did not trust them or social services.

“It was the most civil way of dealing with the situation and to receive some sort of apology for 10 years of abuse.

“I still think it was justified. I wanted to punish the man without going through the courts.

“Money was not the main motivation because I had a healthy bank balance,” she said.