Woman from Wecock Farm blackmailed man for £3,000 after sending him naked photos

Sally Oldham, 28, from Wecock Farm, struck terror into her victim by using the ‘base fear of paedophilia’ in her cruel plan to fleece him of thousands.

Portsmouth Crown Court heard how Oldham began to extract money from the victim, who cannot be named for legal reasons, by making up a claim that her mother needed £1,000 for pioneering hospital treatment for a lung condition in September 2018.

She went on to send the man naked images of herself – before posing as her own boyfriend and then her father, threatening to expose their conversations.

Oldham pretended via messages to be her boyfriend in late 2018, claiming to have come across the pair’s messages before telling the victim that Oldham had the mental age of a 12-year-old.

The victim, who cannot be named for legal reasons, was led to believe he could be placed on a sex offenders’ register – but the matter would be resolved without turning to the police if he paid £2,000.

After making the payment, Oldham then posed as her father via messages to the victim in early 2019, saying the pair’s conversations had been found while her phone was updating on a family computer.

A payment of £3,000 was demanded to stop the father – who was in truth Oldham – from contacting a solicitor.

The victim met with Oldham and a man, claiming to be her brother, to make an initial payment of £250, before then taking the matter to the police, prosecutor Robert Bryan said.

He said the ‘caring and friendly’ victim was someone who ‘do anything for anyone’.

‘The impact of the messages was to such an extent that the victim expressed a contemplation of taking his own life,’ the prosecutor said.

In sentencing, judge William Ashworth said Oldham had taken money when the victim was in a ‘vulnerable financial position’.

He said: ‘You preyed on another person’s emotional vulnerability and you repeatedly did so through deception, by bringing up in the victim the base fear of paedophilia and the base fear of being subjected to public ridicule and disgrace.

‘You beguiled him to a degree that he couldn’t believe he had been duped.’

Noting her struggles with a series of metal health conditions and her traumatic personal life from a young age, the judge added: ‘The mitigating factors are that you have not been in trouble before and the history of your young life is absolutely tragic.

‘There is a very serious risk to your mental health.’

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Oldham was sentenced to two years in prison for each of the three offences to be served concurrently.

The sentence was suspended for two years due to the high risk time to her mental health posed by time inside prison.

She is also required to pay the victim compensation of £3,250 within a year.

Oldham admitted fraud and two charges of blackmail in March this year.

Friends and family had described the offences as ‘very much out of character’ for Oldham, according to Richard Sedgwick, defending.

He said: ‘She is someone who is unlikely to see the inside of a courtroom again.

‘These are quiet unique circumstances where the court can be certain they will not be repeated.’

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