Jail for man who blackmailed female escort

A Welshpool man has started a 16 month jail sentence after meeting up with a female escort and then threatening to expose her to her employers.

Ian Ashley Jones, 23, of Brook Street in Welshpool, contacted her by Facebook and demanded £490 blackmail money because he was desperate to pay his rent.

But Mold Crown Court heard how the victim decided to tell her employers’ herself and also contacted the police.

Jones, who admitted blackmail at an earlier preliminary hearing, was jailed for 16 months.

Judge Niclas Parry also made a restraining order, without limit of time, under which he is not to contact the victim, approach her place of work, or mention or identify her on social media.

The judge also made a Contempt of Court Act order under which the identification of the blackmail victim cannot be made public in order to protect her.

The court heard Jones had a previous conviction in 2009 of possessing indecent images and that had included threats to expose vulnerable people unless his demands were met.