Couple used photos to blackmail woman
A Black Country couple blackmailed a Muslim woman by threatening to expose photographs of her wearing jeans and a T-shirt, a court heard.
A Black Country couple blackmailed a Muslim woman by threatening to expose photographs of her wearing jeans and a T-shirt, a court heard.
The court heard that the potential shame was "the powerful weapon being used against her".
Asylum seeker Emal Ismaeli, aged 34, and his former wife Joanne Richards, 22, said that they would show the snaps of the victim wearing the Western clothing to her devout family and husband-to-be unless she paid them more than £7,000, Wolverhampton Crown Court was told.
The pair, of Claycroft Place, Lye, admitted blackmail and were jailed for their two-month terror campaign against the woman, named only as Miss X, believing that she owed them money.
Ismaeli also attacked her car, ripping off its wing mirror, and tried to unlock the door as she drove, Mr Bernard Linnemann, prosecuting, said.
Mr Linnemann said the photographs were taken during a day out two years earlier. He added: "Miss X received a letter on the doorstep of her father's home with her name on the envelope.
"Inside was a picture of her in Blackpool wearing western clothing. On the back, Miss Richards had written 'If you don't sort out the money you owe, more will come out'."
On other occasions, Miss X was threatened with a video of her dancing and a photograph of her with her arms around a man.
The court heard yesterday how the defendants and Miss X had once been one the same day trip to the seaside resort.
But the court heard Richards formed the belief that Miss X was having an affair with her husband.
Mr Gurdeep Garcha, for Ismaeli, said it was a short-lived and "amateurish" operation, adding that Ismaeli deeply regretted what he had done.
Mrs Sam Powis, for Richards, said the mother-of-one's crime had been committed out of stupidity and anger but the photographs had not been taken with the intention of using them for blackmail.
Judge Michael Challinor sentenced Ismaeli and Richards to 15 months and 12 months in prison respectively. He told them: "The harm that has been done is very significant."
