Judge acquits pair of trying to blackmail Crowe

A judge in eastern Australia today cleared two men of attempting to blackmail Oscar-winning film star Russell Crowe.

Judge John Williams said prosecutors failed to prove the defendants had demanded money to destroy a video of the Gladiator star brawling outside a bar, and ordered the jury to acquit the men.

Philip Cropper and Malcolm Mercer, both 38, had denied trying to extort money from Crowe using the video, which showed him fighting with a man and arguing with a woman in Coffs Harbour in 1999.

They had faced a maximum of 10 years in jail if convicted.

Williams said Cropper and Mercer’s claim that they would go to the media with the video if Crowe did not pay them £77,500 was not a ‘‘specific threat’’.

‘‘There seems to be not much doubt in this matter that money was an object,’’ the judge said. ‘‘But what the prosecution has to prove was there was a demand for money and that demand was supported by a threat.’’

Mercer and Cropper smiled broadly as Williams made his ruling.

Outside the court, they both said they would consider mounting a case against the police for malicious prosecution.

‘‘We have always been of the belief that we should never have been here in the first place,’’ Cropper said.

Crowe, who starred in films including LA Confidential and A Beautiful Mind, was not present during the trial. He was believed to be filming in Mexico.