A woman blackmailed a boat skipper to fund her drug habit – by threatening to show his wife their saucy text messages.
Laura Chapman had a brief relationship with a married captain of a boat that regularly docked in Macduff.
But when he ended things, the 35-year-old became upset and resorted to demanding various sums of cash in order to buy her silence.
The skipper paid up on three occasions, but when Chapman demanded a fourth payment he told his wife he was being blackmailed and contacted the police.
Fiscal depute Felicity Merson told Aberdeen Sheriff Court the man knew Chapman from the local area, and in October 2018, had given her a lift home after spotting her in Banff.
The pair then spoke via telephone and engaged in general chat over a number of days.
On October 5 2018 Chapman messaged the man asking for a “favour”.
She said: “Can you go put 35 quid into my bank account as I have to pay that in before my money will clear. I will not say anything to anyone about being with you or anything to do with you at all.
“I swear I will forever keep it a secret between you and me so please can you.”
She then sent a follow up message urging “please don’t ignore me” and promising “you can trust me”.
The man sent Chapman the money, but said he would not give her any more and that he did not want any further contact.
On October 13, after the man returned from being at sea, he received another text from Chapman.
‘Okay, I am away to contact your wife, you had your chance’
This one read: “If you don’t want me to send the messages to your wife then it’s going to cost you 60 quid, so up to you, I’m not giving a **** anymore.
“I’ve waited all night for you to give me a ring and that’s after me saying you don’t need money or drugs, and you go and do that. So no, **** it, I’ve got nothing to lose, so your choice!”
Chapman told the man to post the money through her letterbox by 10am, warning: “If no, then I will be forwarding all messages to your wife.”
She added: “If you think I’m bluffing, try me as I have every text.”
Mrs Merson said: “The complainer complied with the demand and posted the money due to fear of the accused’s threat.”
At 1.40pm the same day, Chapman again messaged the man but adopted a different tone.
She said: “Hey hun, actually can you help me out with some money ’til next week?”
Chapman asked for another £40 and said she would pay it back, adding: “I appreciate it and I will delete everything so you can see they are gone.”
However, when the man declined she quickly resorted to threats again.
She said: “I have nothing to hide, so you have 30 minutes and if not then I will send everything. I will even call her and tell her everything as well.”
The man met Chapman on Duff Street in Macduff and handed over the money “in fear that the accused would speak with his wife”.
But on October 19, Chapman contact him again and said: “Okay, I am away to contact your wife, you had your chance.”
She then went on: “Okay, I have just messaged her asking if she can contact me when she gets the message.
Chapman now a ‘very different woman’
“If you don’t want me to say anything then transfer me 80 quid to my account and I will just tell her that I got the wrong person, sorry.
“You have 15 mins to do it, up to you.”
She sent the man’s wife a Facebook message asking her to get in touch. The woman did not respond.
The man did not send the money. He told his wife Chapman had been extorting him and contacted the police.
Chapman, of James Street, Macduff, pled guilty to a charge of extortion.
Defence agent Stuart Beveridge said his client had had a short relationship with the man, and was “upset” when he ended it.
Sheriff described incident as a ‘serious offence’
He accepted there was “an element of getting back at him” in the offence.
Mr Beveridge explained Chapman’s drug problem was “out of control” at the time and that the sums of money requested “reflect what she needed on a day-to-day basis to fund her habit”.
He added: “She fully accepts this was not an appropriate way to behave.”
The solicitor went on to say Chapman has now been drug-free for two years and is a “very different woman” to the one who committed the offence.
Sheriff Andrew Miller told Chapman: “The level of contact you had with this man was essentially a private matter between the two of you, but your conduct thereafter in threatening to expose the contact you had with this man unless he gave you money is a serious offence involving, essentially, extorting money from this man by means of these threats.”
He ordered her to be supervised for 12 months and carry out 120 hours of unpaid work as an alternative to a prison sentence.