Translator, 24, jailed for using secret sex tape to make £3,000 blackmail demand of girlfriend

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A translator who used a secret sex tape to blackmail a former girlfriend more than twice his age after she tried to end their affair was behind bars today.

Chisom Adams, 24, demanded £3,000 from the 57-year old mother of three – warning if she failed to pay he would send the video of them romping to her children from a previous relationship.

The victim was left feeling suicidal and moved to a different country to avoid ever seeng him again.  

During a series of threatening Facebook messages, Adams vowed: ‘You don’t know what I’ve got against u. I could actually destroy your life with it. 

‘A few family members might see something.’ 

He then sent her the video of the woman performing a sex act which had been taken without her knowledge during their romance.

The humiliated victim, who had been dating Adams for a year, offered to pay him £1,000 but she then went to police and he was arrested.

It emerged Adams of Clayton, Manchester had previously scrounged thousands of pounds from the victim – at one stage using her bank card to withdraw £3,000. 

He also threatened to stab the woman and stole a diamond ring belonging to her mother. 

The sex video was not uploaded but is not known whether it has been deleted.

In a statement, the victim known as MM told how she has since fled Manchester and moved to the Republic of Ireland 

She said: ‘I moved away earlier than I intended to because of his behaviour and I never want to see him again.

‘I have struggled immensely and feel suicidal at times. I am unable to discuss this with my friends and family because I feel ashamed and embarrassed about him taking advantage of me.’

At Manchester Crown Court, Adams admitted blackmail and theft between August 2017 and March 2018 and was jailed for 40 months. 

The pair got together in 2017 after meeting via a mutual friend. But he soon started asking her for money, the court heard. 

Initially it was the odd £20 she would give him from her purse. Then they would go to the cash machine together and he would ask for larger and larger amounts.

Prosecutor Helen Longworth said: ‘He threatened to stab her if she called police. She believed the threat as he told her he had been stabbed three times himself and showed her scars.’

In addition to forcing her to extract larger and larger sums from the cash point, Adams then started taking money from her purse himself, once taking her bank card and using it to withdraw another £3,000 and pay for takeaways on JustEat. 

She was forced to cancel her card and send the new one to her daughter to avoid him using it. He also stole her £400 computer tablet. 

Ms Longworth said: ‘About five weeks before going to the police she checked her jewellery box and found a gold diamond ring which belonged to her mother was missing. That ring was of considerable sentimental value to her.

‘On 20 March 2018 he sent her a message saying he had something on her if she tried to end their relationship and that he would “destroy your life with it.” She told him to “get stuffed.”‘

The court heard how he threatened that ‘a few family members might see something’ if she didn’t give him more money.

Adams then sent her a video of her perfoming a sex act on him on Facebook. She wasn’t aware that the video existed until he sent it.

The prosecutor added: ‘He said that he was going to show the video to her two sons if she did not give him a further £3,000. 

‘She felt scared and stupid. She asked him to delete it and made it clear that she wanted the relationship to end. He told her that it was him who decides. 

‘He challenged her to call police saying he was not scared of the police or prison since even if he doesn’t come out for ten years the video will still be there. He said she should feel disgusted.’ 

The victim reported Adams to police and he was arrested in April 2018 but gave no comment replies. He had previous convictions for cocaine possession and battery against another former partner.

In mitigation his lawyer Mark Friend said his client, who now has a new girlfriend, had been in debt to drug dealers at the time of his offending. 

He added: ‘The defendant is utterly ashamed of himself but he has moved on and grown in maturity.

‘He has started at university, is two years into his course and has obtained work as a translator dealing with clients in German. He is a man who is not without intellect and he is fluent in English, German and a Nigerian dialect.

‘He has obtained a contract for permanent employment in a job with impressive remuneration paying around £25,000 a year and he is anxious to use that money to repay the money he stole from the victim.’

His lawyer told the court custody would be ‘a disaster for him’ and said it would ‘undo as all the progress he has made’.

But sentencing Adams to 40 months in jail, Judge Michael Leeming slammed his ‘nasty crimes’ and said he ‘appeared to dervice pleasure’ from targeting his vulnerable victim. 

He said: ‘This was a nasty and serious offence of its sort. You appear to have derived pleasure from manipulating your victim in the way you did, which caused her to become distressed and anxious.

‘There was a degree of planning by you. She was befriended on social media out of the blue and there is a suggestion she was targeted because of her vulnerability. You humiliated, demeaned and belittled her.’

Adams was also banned from contacting the victim for ten years under the terms of a restraining order. A Proceeds of Crime Act hearing will take place in March 2021.