Gays and lesbians blackmailed by ex-lovers

GAY people are being blackmailed by their former partners for sums of up to €10,000, a senior garda revealed last night.

Many have not told their married partners, families or work colleagues about their sexuality and are terrified by threats to “out” them.

Garda Inspector Finbarr Murphy, who is a liaison officer to the gay and lesbian community, said the force dealt with three to four blackmail cases each year.

“If a person has protected their sexual orientation from their family, or if the person was married, or working in an area which could cause a difficulty, they could be blackmailed. It happens to gay men and to lesbians.”

The Garda Community Relations Service, which is based in Harcourt Square, has dealt with cases of gay people who were blackmailed for sums ranging from €1,000 to €10,000. Some of the blackmailers want their previous partners to resume a relationship with them while others are motivated by a desire to ruin a current relationship.

In several cases, gay people were so terrified by the threat of exposure that they became suicidal and contacted the Samaritans. However, after they were put in touch with gardaí, their accusers were confronted privately and the threats were withdrawn.

In one case, a man threatened to publish details about a sexual relationship he had had with another student in college, unless he was paid a sum of money.

Following the intervention of the garda liaison service, the blackmail threat was withdrawn and the story went ahead without naming the student involved, who had become a high profile figure.

Inspector Murphy said many victims did not want to go to the courts and blackmail threats could be dealt with privately.

“We’re encouraging the victims to come to us and we will deal with it in a particular way which protects them but prevents them handing over the money.”

However, he said there was still a significant level of under-reporting about crime in the gay community and appealed for victims to come forward.

“If you’re the victim of a crime, regardless of your sexual orientation, we’d like you to report it so that we can help,” he said.

A Waterford-based man exploited the fear of many gay men to report his crimes for more than two years across Ireland, England and Wales. He stole wallets from gay men he met and would assume their identity when he met his next victim. The man would leave the wallet and ID of the previous victim at the house of his current victim to confuse police forces who were pursuing him.

The man was tracked down after a year and given a prison sentence.