Two face jail for blackmail plots

Anthony Holwell and Allan Cole denied the blackmail charges

Two men have been found guilty of conspiring with a police officer to blackmail two victims.

Allan Coe, 45, and Anthony Holwell, 48, from Newport, south Wales, were told they faced lengthy jail terms.

Ray Clarke, 40, an ex-South Wales Police constable, had already pleaded guilty to two counts of blackmail and gave evidence at Cardiff Crown Court.

Mark Brogan, 37, of Newport, has also admitted conspiracy to blackmail. They will all be sentenced on 21 August.

Holwell and Cole had denied two counts of blackmail against builder Mark Griffiths and gaming machine businessman Ronald Hancock in October 2008.

Prosecutor Huw Evans told the court they were involved in a "bizarre but quite determined plot" to get money from the two men because Cole was in "financial difficulty and desperate for cash".

Holwell, who ran the company Lift and Shift, also had money problems, Mr Evans said.

Cannabis

The men believed Mr Griffiths was dealing in drugs and was keeping a large amount of cannabis in a lock-up which they planned to steal, the court heard.

Clarke, who had previously served with the Royal Marines before joining South Wales Police where he worked as a firearms officer, was a friend of Cole and agreed to use his surveillance skills to find out where the lock-up was.

Brogan, a former brother-in-law of Mr Griffiths, was also enlisted to pass on to him a message that some crooked officers from the Metropolitan Police had photographic evidence of his drug dealing activity, the court was told.

"Mark Brogan agreed to tell them it would cost £20,000 to £30,000 for those offences to go away," said Mr Evans.

The second victim, Mr Hancock, was known to keep a large quantity of cash at his home, and Holwell told him "gypsies" were going to rob his house, in order to get him to pay £24,000 for "SAS men" to protect him.

The conspiracy was brought to an end when a close confidant of Holwell's, told Mr Hancock who was behind the supposed threat, the court heard.

Turnover

Holwell had denied the charges saying Clarke had "done it all himself".

He said his business had a turnover of £750,000 the previous year and he had no reason to get involved, but admitted giving information about Mr Griffiths' lock-up.

Holwell told the court he had tipped off his friend Mr Hancock that he was going to be robbed and said he had offered to put him in touch with SAS men to guard his home, but did not ask for any money.

Cole said he had helped Clarke with his surveillance of Mr Griffiths but had no more to do with the plot when Brogan became involved.

He told the court his car was only seen outside Mr Hancock's house because he was in the area looking for his teenage daughter's boyfriend.

A fifth man, Simon Somers, 48, from Newport, was acquitted after Judge Roderick Denyer QC ruled there was insufficient evidence to show he had knowledge of the conspiracy.

The judge adjourned sentence until August 21.

Communication error

An Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) investigation into why Clarke was not identified earlier in the Gwent Police probe found there was a communication error when the inquiry about him was made.

The South Wales Police computer database record was checked for a Ray Clarke, but not the police staff database.

IPCC commissioner for Wales Tom Davies said: "I wanted the investigation into his work as a firearms officer to ensure that no other officers were involved and that all SWP firearms were accounted for."

Mr Davies added that South Wales Police dismissed Mr Clarke before the trial began.