In a similar vein, the fact that the action threatened may be legal or even morally desirable (for example, revealing the victim’s criminality) does not prevent a demand from being unwarranted the use of a serious or significant threat to re-enforce a demand will usually make the demand unwarranted. This means that even if the individual believes they have a legal right to make a particular request, if they re-enforce that request with menaces that they know to be improper, they can still be guilty of blackmail. A demand is “unwarranted” unless the person making it believes both (i) that they have reasonable grounds for making the demand and (ii) that menaces are a proper means of enforcing the demand.Even where an ordinary person would not be moved by a particular threat, if the victim is exceptionally timid or susceptible to that threatened action, and the person issuing the threat knows this and/or intends to capitalise on that susceptibility, they will be considered to be acting with menaces. Here the question is an objective one: whether an ordinary person of normal stability and courage would be moved by or made apprehensive by the threat so as to accede unwillingly to the demand. A serious or significant threat will often qualify as a menace, even if the threat itself does not affect the victim. The term “menaces” is not defined in the relevant legislation but should be understood as having its ordinary meaning in the English language.Spoken or written demands do not need to be received by the victim they will be considered “made” for the purposes of establishing this element of the offence as soon as they are addressed to the victim, whether received or not. The demand does not need to be communicated in words it can be conveyed by an individual’s demeanour provided that the effect is to subject the victim to menacing pressure. A “demand” can be a request for something or an offer of something (for example protection).However, this is one of many ways that the offence of blackmail can be committed. Most commonly, blackmail involves a request for money coupled by a threat to do something against the victim’s interests if they don’t pay (for example, a threat to expose harmful information about the victim – whether this be true or false information). The offence of blackmail is committed when a person makes an unwarranted demand with menaces with a view to gain for themselves or another or intending to cause loss to another.
Although there are a lot of similarities between the two crimes, and the sentencing guidelines are the same for both offences, extortion and blackmail describe two different acts. Blackmail and Extortion are serious crimes that carries a penalty of up to 14 years’ imprisonment.Įxtortion is sometimes confused with blackmail.
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