Goalkeeper jailed for sex video blackmail

Updated 12.42 Fri Sep 05 2008
Keywords: blackmail, court, Manchester City, Ashley Timms

A goalkeeper who blackmailed a top Premier League footballer over a sex video has been jailed for 20 months.

Ex-Manchester City trainee Ashley Timms, 22, demanded £15,000 from the star, who cannot be named for legal reasons.

Timms, from Middleton, Greater Manchester, made a series of threats to publish the images if he was not paid the cash

Timms, from Middleton, Greater Manchester, made a series of threats to publish the images if he was not paid the cash.

The sex video clip involved a woman and the footballer engaged in sex at his home.

Passing sentence, Judge Andrew Gilbart said: "Blackmail always calls for a custodial sentence. The abuse of your friendship for simple greed is an aggravating feature.

"This was a calculated attempt to extract money for your own benefit."

He added: "It is depressing that in a society where there is supposed to be more sexual freedom, some popular newspapers and magazines continue to dress their interest in it as some form of moral indignation when what they are actually doing is making money from their readers' interest in sex and salacious gossip."

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