CASE OF BLACKMAIL

Waikato Times, Volume 94, Issue 14798, 11 November 1921, Page 5

CASE OF BLACKMAIL

+ A WELL-DESERVED SENTENCE. (From Our London Correspondent.) LONDON, Sept. 22. Three precious scoundrels have bean sentenced by Mr Justiee Acton to a wcll-dcservcd three years' penal servitude for their pari in Ltie blackmail case we mentioned a 'fortnight ago. The girl who served their purpose, who travelled daily with a city man in the train, and lured him into a house hired by the consiprators, on pretext that she was taking- him to tea with her mother —although she altered that formula when sho got him fairly en route —was sent to prison for three months. An adventuress, picked up in the streel by one of the male culprits, and paid for her service without knowing quite what thai service meant. Hie jury considered i| fair to recommend her to mercy, and she gol the boncfil of thai recommendation. As for Ihe men. they had sel mil. deliberately |o Ira], a cili7.cn whom Ihey knew was rich enough to pay hush-money. lie was indiscreet and fell into Ihe trap. Happily his weakness did 110 l go beyond llwil point, and the community is indebted to him for aeeeptinsr a showlnf-up and getting Ibi'ee blackguards into the hands of juslice. When a demand for £SOO was made upon him. he asked what would happen if tie did not pay. "1 shall inform your wife, your mother, your directors and your friends, and ruin you," replied the miscreant who had come with the gang's demand. "I s Hint finish if?" inquired Ihe victim. "No," was Ihe reply, "my society are very revengeful. Your life will be in danger." In his summing up Ihe judge remarked that, a more deeply-laid, ingenious and diabolical scheme for obtaining money could rarely have been heard in a court of justice. The evidence had shown that' Ihe ruffians had spent no less than £7O in carrying out their plot. In passing sentence, Mr Justice Acton said thai Ihe crime was one of the most shocking and dangerous thai, could be committed. 11, was aggravated by Ihe fact that, instead of taking steps to prevent publicity being given to the facts, they had suffered them to be published to Ihe world broadcast, "involving in the greatest, shame, misery and humiliation perfectly innocent people." That, is the worst of it. The man may be comparatively indifferent to the scandal: his family never are; and, generally, when Ihe man blackmailed surrenders and pays it, is to save his kindred. Heavy as Ihe sentence is, it would have been heavier in Ihe case of the principal in Ihe plot, hut for the fact that the young man—he is only 22—has an exceptionally good Army record. Once more, then, it is demonstrated that one who under Army discipline can keep straight and play a brave part may not be fitted to use, as every decent citizen should use, Ihe opportunities presented by the freedom of civilian life.