Royal Watch News
Royal 'blackmailer' unmasking aim
By BANG
Apr 29, 2008, 11:25 GMT

The man accused of blackmailing a member of Britain's Royal Family told a court yesterday (28.04.08) it was his aim to unmask a "predatory homosexual".

Ian Strachan - who, along with Sean McGuigan, is accused of threatening to sell tapes of alleged gay sex claims against the unnamed royal unless they received £50,000 - said the taped claims from a royal employee, known as witness D, were to warn the royal about the employee's behaviour.

He said this was the pair's main motivation for their plot to record allegations the man had made about the royal.

Strachan claimed their aim was to get him sacked.

Strachan told the jury at London's Old Bailey how he befriended witness D in 2006.

However, Strachan said the man then revealed himself as a predatory homosexual who had tried to drug and assault him and two of his friends.

Strachan says conversations he had with witness D were taped and he and McGuigan discussed outing him by publishing the tape on video-sharing website YouTube.

However, Strachan then had a conversation with a journalist from Britain's News of the World newspaper, who told

him the tapes would be worth between £25,000 to £50,000 if he sold them.

He then went on to describe subsequent conversations with a friend of the royal, known as witness C.

The court then heard how when Strachan told witness C of the money he had been offered for the tapes, witness C offered him £57,000.

Strachan insisted he never raised the question of receiving money for the story, but admitted telling witness C that there was press interest in the story varying from "75p to £100,000".

Jerome Lynch QC, representing Strachan, asked his client of witness C: "Why wouldn't you have asked him for money?"

Strachan replied: "Because that would have been blackmail."

The case continues.

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