Two men convicted of blackmailing Royal

TWO men were jailed for five years each today after being found guilty of a £50,000 gay sex blackmail plot against a member of the Royal family.

Ian Strachan and Sean McGuigan demanded the money for a set of recordings featuring "scandalous" remarks by a Royal employee. Among the claims were that the married Royal, only known as witness A, performed a sex act on his employee, witness D, at a party.

Strachan and McGuigan used the tapes to demand money from witness A after trying - but failing - to sell the recordings to newspapers. They were arrested in a sting operation at a London hotel by undercover police officers in September last year.

Strachan, 31, of Fulham, and McGuigan, 41, of Battersea, were sentenced this afternoon after being convicted by an Old Bailey jury of demanding money with menaces.

Their convictions followed a police investigation and three-week trial thought to have cost at least £1 million.

Mark Ellison QC, prosecuting, said it was a "classic example of blackmail".

The court heard that Strachan was a "Walter Mitty" type fantasist who liked to claim he was a friend of Royals and lived a champagne lifestyle.

McGuigan made contact with witness A's representatives July past and was present as the tapes were played to an undercover officer posing as a Royal aide, in a meeting shortly before both men were arrested.

Following the verdict, Crown Prosecution Service reviewing lawyer Mark Carroll said: "Although they claimed to be acting in the interests of the victim, the jury rejected this story and agreed with the prosecution that they were simply interested in the money.

"Prosecutions for blackmail are rare but it is a serious offence which can involve the victims making themselves vulnerable in order that the case come to trial."

Mr Justice Cooke told the two men that the offence was so serious that they had to go to jail.

"The corrosive evil of blackmail means that any sentence must have a deterrent effect," he told them.