Lurgan blackmailer demanded victim clear half his drug debt or he would release sex tape

Ordering Ryan Dolan to serve half the sentence in jail and half under supervised licence, Judge Patrick Lynch KC told the 27-year-old he had left his victim “terrified of what you might do in the future,” describing how she has been “profoundly affected” by the blackmail plot.

The judge also imposed a five-year restraining order barring Dolan from contacting her or from mentioning her in any online post.

At an earlier hearing Dolan, from Island View in Lurgan, entered a guilty plea to a single charge of blackmail in that on August 4 last year, he “made an unwarranted demand for money from the complainant with menaces.”

Opening the facts of the case on Tuesday, prosecution counsel Nicola Auret told Craigavon Crown Court, sitting in Ballymena, how Dolan and the victim had been in a “casual intimate relationship” before he was jailed in February 2023.

At the start of August, she was contacted by the defendant demanding that she had to pay half of his £10,000 drug debt but “she refused and maintained it was nothing to do with her”.

Despite the fact that Dolan was still being held in HMP Maghaberry, the victim received further messages from unknown numbers making threats including one which stated “I’m getting out in two days - you better have the £4.5k or I’m sending people to your mother’s house”.

"She suspected that the defendant was behind the messages in an attempt to scare her to pay half his debt,” said Ms Auret, adding that she also received multiple phone calls and texts in quick succession in the middle of the night.

Dolan had been freed from prison that very day and the barrister outlined how he threatened that he would “cause trouble around your mother’s house - trust me,” and after stating simply “green light,” he sent her a text: “I’ll send your ma your sex video - you need to have the f****** money or I’ll post on Facebook, do not doubt me, I’ll make sure your family see it.”

Ms Auret confirmed that during their month-long casual relationship, the pair had recorded an intimate video with her consent but when he was sent to jail, she had his phone so went through it and deleted the video before she gave it to his mum.

"However she was concerned that he had saved a copy somewhere else,” she told the court.

Less than 24 hours after Dolan had been freed from prison, he was back in custody and facing interviews about the sextortion plot where he denied blackmail and claimed that “she owed him money from the sale of his car and money she took from his account”.

By his admissions he has clearly abandoned those claims and Ms Auret submitted there were numerous aggravating features to the case, not least the “profound effect” on the victim, Dolan’s previous record of 14 drug offences and that he committed the office almost as soon as he got out of jail.

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Defence counsel David McKeown conceded immediately at the beginning of his plea in mitigation that “his behaviour was reprehensible but he is not looking to excuse it.

"He realises he should not have done it,” said the barrister, revealing that Dolan’s mother had cleared his drug debt.

"This has been something of a wake-up call for the defendant…and he himself has taken steps in custody to become drug-free and achieve enhanced status,” he told the court.

Jailing Dolan, Judge Lynch said his offending has had a negative effect on his victim’s work, personal and social life and in imposing the restraining order, he warned him that if he was in breach of that “there’s a good chance that will encompass a further period of imprisonment”.