The pair were sentenced at Swansea Crown Court
TWO men have been jailed after blackmailing a garage owner by threatening with a hitman and telling him he'd "never been seen again" unless he paid them £15,000.
Richard Coffey and Richard O'Brien had conspired against the St Clear's garage owner, with whom scrap metal dealer O'Brien had previously done business, warning him they would burn down his home and business if he refused to pay.
O'Brien, of Vicarage Road in Morriston, had gone to visit his victim and after asking if he had any batteries to sell, told him that he knew the garage owner had been having a relationship with a neighbour's daughter.
READ MORE: Former coroner's jail term appeal dismissed
Swansea Crown Court was told the garage owner had been in an legitimate and legal relationship some time previously, but O'Brien threaten him with a hitman unless he paid £15,000. Shortly afterwards, the garage owner received a phone call from Coffey, of Morrison Crescent, Port Talbot.
Prosecuting, Ian Wright said: "He went on to tell him that the hit man knew where he lived and would never be seen again, and made reference to the Brecon Beacons."
The victim received a number of calls over the following week, during which time the figure demanded was dropped to £5,000, but he was told that his garage and his home would be burned down if he didn't pay. The pair were arrested after their victim went to the police, and had been due to stand trial but pleaded guilty to blackmail on the day it was due to begin in June.
Mitigating, Stephen Donnelly said of 25-year-old O'Brien: "He is a man of little wit, and I mean him no disservice. He did not go about this with a high degree of foresight. There was no proper or real planning...It was the most pathetic attempt to extract funds that was doomed to fail."
He added that his wife had given birth to a child while he had been in custody, and "he has suffered from considerable anxiety, but recognises it is wholly different to that suffered by his victim".
READ MORE: Teacher who asked 16-year-old schoolgirl to have sex after giving her perfume is struck off
Giles Hayes, for 40-year-old Coffey, said he accepted full responsibility for "this unpleasant and unacceptable episode", and that Coffey he had never met his victim. He added that his children had visited him in a prison environment and 'that has been an unsatisfactory experience for all involved'.
Describing it as an 'unsophisticated blackmail, Mr Hayes added Coffey "has finally adopted a realistic view of proceedings".
Sentencing both men to two years six months imprisonment, minus time served, Judge Paul Thomas said: "Blackmail is an ugly offence, but this in my view has elements that are particularly ugly, involving telling a man he was being accused of an offence involving a young person, and that was backed up by a threat.
"They threatened that the person who had accused him had taken out a contract on him, and reference was made to him never being seen again. What was being implied was that he would disappear in the Brecon Beacons.
"While this lacked sophistication, the victim was understandably distressed by what he was being told. It was a cynical and cruel method to extract money from him."
Read more: http://www.southwales-eveningpost.co.uk/blackmail-victim-told-hitman-would-make-him-disappear-in-brecon-beacons-if-he-didn-t-pay-15k/story-29513642-detail/story.html#ixzz4ET1lxcnx
Follow us: @SWEveningPost on Twitter | SWEveningPost on Facebook
Read more at http://www.southwales-eveningpost.co.uk/blackmail-victim-told-hitman-would-make-him-disappear-in-brecon-beacons-if-he-didn-t-pay-15k/story-29513642-detail/story.html#vc1TmibV8cI24pUl.99
No comments:
Post a Comment