Royal gay sex tape blackmailer to appeal against conviction

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One of the two men jailed for five years for the blackmail of a mystery royal over gay sex tapes is to lodge an appeal, his lawyer said today.

Ian Strachan, 31, and co-accused Sean McGuigan, 41, were both found guilty of demanding money with menaces by a jury after a three-week trial at the Old Bailey.

The court heard they had demanded £50,000 from a member of the Royal Family, known as A, for tapes in which one of his employees made lurid claims about him.

Strachan's lawyer, Giovanni Di Stefano said today: "We are appealing against conviction. There was never any blackmail he wanted to expose."

The court heard Strachan, of Imperial Wharf in Fulham, and McGuigan, of Latchmere Road in Battersea, had turned to blackmail after trying and failing to sell the material to a number of newspapers.

Sentenced: Sean McGuigan was convicted alongside Strachan for what the judge called 'a dirty, filthy and hideous crime'

The pair were arrested in a police sting operation involving an undercover officer posing as a royal aide at a London hotel.

Strachan, who is originally from Aberdeen, was a "Walter Mitty" type fantasist who liked to claim he was a friend of royals and lived a champagne lifestyle, the court heard.

Trial judge Mr Justice Cook said the offence was so serious it warranted a jail term.

He said: "This offence has been described as one of the ugliest and most vicious crimes in the calendar of criminal offences and was described in this court as a dirty, filthy and hideous crime."

He told Strachan and McGuigan: "You were motivated by greed and also by revenge. You were prepared to tell lie after lie.

"The corrosive effect of blackmail means that any sentence in a case of this kind must have a deterrent effect."