WOMAN BLACKMAILED EX BY THREATENING FALSE RAPE ACCUSATIONS

A WOMAN who blackmailed her ex-boyfriend out of thousands of pounds by threatening to falsely tell the police that he had raped her has been jailed.

Rhiannon Jones, from Orford, forced her vulnerable former partner to pay up more than £7,000 after making the demands through a fake Facebook account. The 21-year-old was handed two years behind bars on Friday, March 12. Liverpool Crown Court heard that the couple had been together for about a year before their relationship came to an end in September 2019, although the pair remained friends.

But Jones, of Grasmere Avenue, then set up a social media profile posing as a fictitious friend of her own and used it to message the victim. She began to make requests to transfer money into her bank account, which became ‘increasingly frequent and aggressive’ – up to three or four times per day on occasions.

The former carer told her target, who suffers from special education needs which cause him to become easily confused, that she would contact the police if he did not comply and even threatened to report that he had raped her – something she now admits was untrue.

Over the course of a month in November and December that year, he paid up a total of £7,451.95 – including inheritance monies left to him by his late grandparents.

Jones, who has no previous convictions, also pretended to be the made-up pal’s fiancé.

Her campaign ended when the victim’s dad became aware of what was happening and called the police himself. In a statement read out to the court on his behalf, he described how he feared that he would be subjected to physical violence after receiving the threatening messages. Jones admitted blackmail during an earlier court hearing.

Sentencing, judge Brian Cummings said: “The circumstances inevitably reflect very badly on you.

You took advantage of a very vulnerable person and extorted a significant amount of money from him, especially significant by reference to his own means – you did so in a persistent and cynical manner. It’s conceded rightly and realistically on your behalf that appropriate punishment in this case can only be achieved by the imposition of an immediate custodial sentence.

“As serious as it is, this is your first ever offence.

“Inevitably, it will be your first – and I hope only – experience of custody.

“I take into account your young age, your own mental health problems and the not insignificant amount of time which has passed since the offending.

“All of these facts taken together enable me to impose a sentence somewhat lower than it might otherwise have been.”

Jones, who will serve half of her sentence before being released on licence, was also ordered to pay a victim surcharge.

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