Iranian Ramtin Ebrhimpourkoloor has been found guilty of trying to blackmail a Henley businessman into giving him £10,000.

Ebrhimpourkoloor, 28, was yesterday (Fri) convicted of the offence after Oxford Crown Court heard how he sent the man poison pen letters outlining his demands.

The man, who cannot be named, had started a secret affair with a 22-year-old woman and Ebrhimpourkoloor, of Priory Road, High Wycombe, had threatened to tell the man's wife about it if he did not pay up.

Ebrhimpourkoloor, who was remanded in custody until he is sentenced on July 24, claimed the letters were merely a scheme the men hatched to get rid of the businessman's girlfriend.

The jury took three hours and 20 minutes to reach its majority verdict.

Basil Hillman, prosecuting, had told the court that Ebrhimpourkoloor and his victim were friends, but trouble began when Ebrhimpourkoloor borrowed £1,800 from him.

In January a threatening letter was sent to the businessman, which warned compromising pictures of him and his girlfriend would be sent to his wife if he did not deposit £10,000 in Ebrhimpourkoloor's bank account.

The man called the police, who later found two copies of a similar letter inside a road atlas inside Ebrhimpourkoloor's car. Giving evidence, Ebrhimpourkoloor, who denied blackmail, told the court the businessman wanted to break off his relationship with the girlfriend who, he said, had expensive tastes.

"We discussed how to get rid of the girl," he had said. "The discussion was that we would do a letter and when it was delivered she would think he was being blackmailed and she would leave."

Cross-examined by Mr Hillman, Ebrhimpourkoloor said the girlfriend was "tough and hard-hearted" and the blackmail plot was the best idea they could think of to get rid of her.

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