A MAN and a woman have been jailed for blackmailing a businessman.

Liam Gray and Lindsey Cogman sent text messages and used Facebook to blackmail the man over his brief dalliance with a 19-year-old woman.

Gray of Homefields, Marlborough, was given a 12 months' prison sentence while Cogman of Little Island, Pewsey, received a 10-month prison sentence.

Appearing at Salisbury Crown Court, the Recorder said blackmail was "the ugliest and most vicious of crimes".

The court heard Gray, 26, first contacted the businessman, who cannot be named due to a court order protecting his anonymity, after he allegedly touched the 19-year-old in a sexual way on one occasion.

Gray sent a Facebook message on February 23, 2015 via a fake account making reference to the behaviour and saying there was photographic evidence.

Prosecuting, Colin Meeke said Gray demanded money in return for silence and if he did not pay, the photos would be sent to the man's family, the press and the police.

The court heard "numerous" text messages were sent over a period of three weeks demanding money, with the victim paying two lots of £300 into a bank account.

Mr Meeke said: "He thought that would be an end of it. Of course, the blackmailers came back."

Further demands - to guarantee a flat and also for £2,000 - prompted the victim to go to the police with the investigation leading to Gray and Cogman.

The court heard there was in fact no photographic evidence and that Gray had relied on "tittle-tattle".

Defending Gray, Tom Horder said: "This is a deeply unpleasant and nasty offence, and in terms of mitigation of facts, there's relatively little."

He highlighted Gray's Aspergers and the obsessive, repetitive symptoms the disorder can produce as well as the perception of high morality.

Defending 23-year-old Cogman, Sarah Brown said she had become involved in the blackmail later on and that while her motivation was financial, she had not received any money from the victim.

She said: "This has been a very steep learning curve for her. She has never been before the courts before. She is shocked by her own actions and deeply remorseful for them."

The court heard Cogman, a mother of one who worked in a nursery, had £4,000 debt.

Sentencing the pair, Recorder Alastair Malcolm QC said: "Blackmail has been described by the Court of Appeal as the ugliest and most vicious of crimes.

"To put in simpler terms it is a very nasty offence and it's true that the effect on its victim can be devastating and the mental torment that the victim suffers is not lessened by the subsequent remorse of the perpetrators when they are caught."

He said the case warranted three years in prison but due to each defendant admitting the blackmail when interviewed, the sentences would be reduced by a third to two years.

Addressing Gray, he said: "You suffer from Asperger's. I have read a full report and am well aware of other cases of those who suffer from it.

"Both of you have reasons why, it has been urged upon me, that I should suspend the period of imprisonment that must be imposed.

"However, the nature of this offence is such it has to be marked by immediate custody.

"I have taken into account the difficulties you will face as a result of an immediate custodial sentence and have reduced what would otherwise have been two years to one of 12 months."

Addressing Cogman, he said: "You didn't instigate the offence. However, once you got involved you joined in and played your full part.

"Having taken into account the reduction of the sentence I imposed on your co-defendant I reduce the sentence that you would otherwise have got to ten months."