Brit man found guilty of blackmailing celeb with ’sensitive’ pics
By ANIWednesday, October 27, 2010
LONDON - A Brit man has been jailed for blackmailing an international superstar with “highly sensitive” photos stolen from her home. he celebrity received threatening letters and emails from Stephen Bennett, 24, demanding tens of thousands of pounds in cash for the shots, reports the Sun.
It was reported Bennett used Facebook and Google to get in touch with the star.
The musician - who has a house in London - cannot be named because of a strict court order banning publication of her personal details.
The crook threatened to go public with 27 potentially embarrassing photos taken from her laptop.
The man - who called himself “Dave64″ and “Dave Smith” in his blackmail messages - was caught after a Scotland Yard undercover operation.
During the trial at London’s Isleworth Crown Court the “well known” and “instantly recognisable” celebrity was referred to by the pseudonym “Nicola Smith”.
Judge Robert Winstanley said, “The photographs were of Miss Smith, and were of a very sensitive nature.”
The musician’s house was broken into last November after she lost her keys. A relative who was staying with her at the time was woken by the intruder and raised the alarm but by the time cops arrived he had fled.
Six weeks later in January the star began receiving hand-delivered letters and emails demanding cash. Bennett ordered the musician’s lawyers to pay 2,000 pounds for each of the photos - a total of 54,000 pounds.
A team of undercover cops met the crook - with one posing as the celebrity’s lawyer - and eventually followed him back to an address in North Kensington, West London.
He will be sentenced on Friday. (ANI)
