Goalie jailed over sex tape blackmail

A GOALKEEPER who blackmailed a English Premier League footballer over a sex video was jailed for 20 months.

Former Manchester City trainee Ashley Timms, 22, demanded €18,500 from the star, who cannot be named for legal reasons.

Timms made a series of threats to publish the images if the player failed to pay him the cash.

The video clip showed the footballer and a 19-year-old woman having sex at his home in September last year.

Timms pleaded guilty last month and was jailed yesterday at Manchester Crown Court after admitting making a series of demands and threats.

Sentencing Timms, Judge Andrew Gilbart said: “Blackmail always calls for a custodial sentence. The abuse of your friendship for simple greed is an aggravating feature.

“This was a calculated attempt to extract money for your own benefit.”

Timms and the player, known only as witness A, had become friends and were part of a “fantasy world” of fast cars, money and girls.

It was “commonplace” for footballers to film each other having sex with women, the court heard.

Prosecution lawyer David Friesner told the court Timms used a mobile phone to video the footballer.

But the two men drifted apart as Timms’ football career “withered” because of his poor attitude and, as his earnings plummeted, he dropped out of the high-spending world of top players, Friesner said.