Pink News
April 19, 2010
http://www.pinknews.co.uk/2010/04/19/man-jailed-for-trying-to-blackmail-gay-priest/
A Birmingham man has been jailed for 18 months after he threatened to out a Roman Catholic priest.
Towlys Pericleous, 28, had a relationship with the Birmingham-based priest but blackmailed him when the priest tried to end the affair, the Birmingham Mail reports.
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| The priest was blackmailed for £5,000 |
Birmingham crown court heard that Pericleous, of Wilmcote Tower, Upper Highgate Street, Birmingham, blackmailed the man for £5,000 and threatened to expose him to newspapers and the church.
The priest, who cannot be named, met Pericleous in a gay bar in 2004 and the pair began a sexual relationship.
The court heard that the victim paid £5,000 to the defendant partly for sexual activity but also because he felt sorry for him.
When the priest tried to end the relationship, Pericleous bombarded him with "increasingly threatening and demanding" text messages.
Pericleous admitted a charge of blackmail and Judge Phillip Parker QC told him his behaviour had been serious but accepted that he had acted out of "anger and frustration".
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