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Blackmail verdict upheld at appeal
A DEBT collector and his sidekick who demanded money with menaces from a businessman to the tune of £27 million have failed in bids to get their convictions for blackmail overturned on appeal.
Investment boss Patrick Kelly,was taken to a house in Crawley and threatened that he would be 'put in a box' during a two-hour ordeal at the hands of Lester Roy Burdett Deakin and his half-brother, John Paul Andrew Venn, in August 2007.
Venn, 37, of Rotherfield Avenue, Eastbourne, and Deakin, 47, of Regents Close, Broadfield, Crawley, claimed they were acting lawfully to recover money owed to investors who had lost funds through the collapse of a company that Mr Kelly was involved with.
Mr Kelly's business partner, David Reece, was also phoned and threatened. He agreed to pay 1.8 million but tipped off Sussex Police.
Deakin was jailed for nine months at Lewes Crown Court in January having been convicted of two counts of blackmail, whilst Venn was given 60 hours community service following his conviction for a single blackmail offence.
Both men asked the country's top judge – the Lord Chief Justice, Lord Judge - sitting with Mr Justice Henriques and Mrs Justice Rafferty at London's Criminal Appeal Court, to overturn their convictions.
The court heard that Deakin hatched a plot to lure Mr Kelly from London to Deakin's home in Crawley on August 28 2007. He made out he wanted to invest money with him.
Mr Kelly drove to Pease Pottage services on August 28 to meet Deakin and Venn, who had been co-opted in as extra muscle.
They drove to Deakin's home, where Mr Kelly thought they were going to discuss investing money, but Deakin issued threats and an initial demand for 27 million, which was lowered during the evening to a final figure of 1.8 million.
Mr Kelly told Deakin he needed to take medication and left after promising to return, but he went back to London where he phoned Mr Reece, who contacted Sussex Police.
Deakin and Venn were each originally also charged with possessing a firearm and possessing an imitation firearm, with the Crown claiming Mr Kelly had been threatened with a gun, but were both acquitted of all firearms offences.
At the Appeal Court, their lawyers argued that, in light of those acquittals, the convictions for blackmail were illogical and should not be allowed to stand.
It was claimed the 'menaces' issued to the victim were inextricably linked to the alleged production of a firearm and, having failed to prove that there was a firearm involved, the Crown had also failed to prove that any 'menace' existed.
But Mr Justice Henriques rejected both their appeals, concluding, "There were other types of menaces quite apart from any firearms offences. As to the safety of these convictions, we have no doubt."
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Sunday 12 February 2012
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