Dad pretended to be a woman on dating site to blackmail victim

a FaThEr of two who pretended to be a woman on a dating site and then extorted money from a married man has avoided jail.

James McLaughlin used the false name Jade Young to register on the site in January 2020.

Inverness Sheriff Court was told the 28-yearold started an online conversation with a man and photographs were exchanged. But the communications took a sinister turn when McLaughlin, of Inverness, demanded money.

Fiscal depute David Morton told Sheriff Gordon Fleetwood: ‘On January 23, the man received a message that James McLaughlin was not Jade Young, and that he was a man. McLaughlin gave his bank details and asked for £1,500.

‘If it was not paid, he said he would expose the exchanges with the man’s family members.’

Mr Morton said the man paid in £1,000 before contacting police.

Sentence was previously deferred for a background report and Sheriff Fleetwood had said he was ‘having difficulty finding a reason not to impose a jail sentence’. he added that the report indicated McLaughlin’s remorse but criticised him for not paying back any of the money since then.

‘he spent it yet he was in a position to repay it,’ the sheriff said to defence solicitor advocate Neil Wilson.

Mr Wilson replied: ‘I suspect the remorse came when he was caught. This started as a drunken prank. he has a tendency to go on short binges.’

Sheriff Fleetwood sentenced McLaughlin, who admitted a charge of extortion, to 150 hours of unpaid work and two years of social work supervision.

he added: ‘This is a calculated attempt to obtain money by deceit. You have done nothing to repay the money so I will also make part of the order you pay £1,000 compensation.’

Meanwhile, in a separate case, a woman has been charged over ‘romance fraud’.

Police Scotland said a 51-yearold woman in Banchory, aberdeenshire, was duped out of a sixfigure sum of money.

a 64-year-old woman, who lives in England, has been arrested and charged. She is expected to appear in court at a later date.

Detective Inspector Martyn Thomson said: ‘It’s very easy to fall victim to romance fraud, with people understandably reluctant to come forward and report it. however, I would strongly urge that if you are a victim, you report the matter to police.’