Court hears how pair tried to blackmail British royal

TWO men tried to blackmail a member of the British royal family with an audio recording featuring claims he had performed a gay sex act on an employee, a court was told yesterday.

Ian Strachan, 31, and Sean McGuigan, 41, tried to blackmail the royal, who cannot be identified, for £50,000 (€62,000) after failing to sell the story to a number of national newspapers, said prosecutors.

Both deny making an unwarranted demand with menaces.

The recordings at the centre of the claims contained material from a man employed in the royal household which, if ever published, would have the potential to “cause embarrassment and hurt to his employer”, said prosecutor Mark Ellison. The recordings also contained “scandalous and disparaging remarks” about other royals, the jury at the Old Bailey court in London was told.

The court heard in early 2007, Strachan and McGuigan, who is reported to be Irish, made a series of audio and video recordings of “witness D” — the royal employee — apparently asserting the member of the extended royal family had performed oral sex on him.

Strachan made the recordings of witness D on McGuigan’s mobile phone and then downloaded them on to his computer, the court heard. Most of the eight hours-worth of files were recorded when witness D, “for whom they [Strachan and McGuigan] have professed a strong dislike”, was drunk or “under the influence of other substances”, the court heard.

The man was heard giving forthright opinions “on a wide range of other members of the royal family which included a number of scandalous and disparaging remarks”, said the prosecutor.

Prosecutors said that between March and July 2007, Strachan approached several newspapers including The News of the World, The Sun and the Sunday Express, to try and sell the material, asking for a “substantial sum”. By July 2007, he had not managed to sell the story, the court heard.

Strachan and McGuigan then allegedly turned their attention from the media to the royal — witness A.

The pair were caught after they went to a meeting at a London hotel on September 11 last. They thought they were going to see a representative of the alleged royal victim, but it was really an undercover officer, the court heard.

The case continues today.