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Two men guilty of royal blackmail | Two men guilty of royal blackmail |
(10 minutes later) | |
Two men accused of demanding £50,000 from a Royal Family member in exchange for tapes featuring gay sex claims have been found guilty of blackmail. | Two men accused of demanding £50,000 from a Royal Family member in exchange for tapes featuring gay sex claims have been found guilty of blackmail. |
An Old Bailey jury decided Ian Strachan and Sean McGuigan had tried to extort money from the unidentified royal. | An Old Bailey jury decided Ian Strachan and Sean McGuigan had tried to extort money from the unidentified royal. |
His identity had been concealed during the two-and-a-half-week-long trial. | His identity had been concealed during the two-and-a-half-week-long trial. |
Strachan, 31, of Fulham, west London, and McGuigan, 41, of Battersea, south London, had denied charges of demanding money with menaces. | Strachan, 31, of Fulham, west London, and McGuigan, 41, of Battersea, south London, had denied charges of demanding money with menaces. |
The two men now face jail after being found guilty 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, witness D, at a party. | Among the claims in the recordings were that the married royal, referred to as witness A, performed a sex act on his employee, witness D, at a party. |
'Walter Mitty' character | |
Strachan and McGuigan had used the tapes to demand money from the royal after trying, unsuccessfully, to sell them to newspapers. | Strachan 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 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. |