Pair locked up over £1k blackmail plot against father and son
Two men have been locked up for trying to extort £1,000 from a father and son through a campaign of violent threats and demands for cash and valuables.
Kurtis Holness was asked to keep an eye on his victims' home in Bilston. But when he wasn't paid for his time, he embarked on a sustained campaign of blackmail.
Wolverhampton Crown Court heard yesterday how the father and son returned home from a family trip abroad to find their garden furniture missing and a furious Holness demanding £150 for looking after the house while they were away.
Mr Andrew Wallace, prosecuting, said 18-year-old Holness, of Meldon Drive, Bradley, told the father, who cannot be named for legal reasons, 'l'll bang you out' if he refused to pay the money he wanted.
"The demands became regular and were accompanied by threats," Mr Wallace said.
The court was then told that on September 28, father-of-one Luke Sillitto became involved when he accompanied Holness to the house yet again to demand payment.
Mr Wallace added: "By this stage the amount they were asking for had escalated to £1,000.
"Holness was aggressive and abusive and threatened to take it out on the man and his family.
"The man's son initially offered them a laptop, which Holness refused as he said it was only worth £300."
The court heard that the son exchanged telephone numbers with Sillitto to arrange to give him the laptop, a PlayStation and an iPad worth a combined £650 at a later date.
But he contacted police on October 16 after Holness had subjected them to further threats of violence.
Defending Holness, Mr Jasvir Mann told the court his client had been friends with the son for four years but had resorted to crime because 'he needed the money'.
Mr Mann said: "He accepts what he did was very wrong. This was a blip in an otherwise decent life."
Mr Jon Roe, for Sillitto, said: "He was not aware of what happened before September 28 and and went along with the scheme without any thought to what was going on around him.
"His behaviour showed his inmaturity, but he bitterly regrets his involvement."
Holness pleaded guilty to two counts of blackmail. He was sent to a young offenders institution for 12 months.
Sillitto, aged 21, of Windmill Lane, Castlecroft, pleaded guilty to one count of the same charge, and he was jailed for nine months.
Both men were placed under a restraining order not to approach either complainant for five years.
