You’ve Got Blackmail

Pillow stalk

hen you’re sitting in the back of a taxi late at night, dazed and confused after being arrested on suspicions of drink driving, seeing a neighbour knock on your window should bring a certain amount of welcome support.

That good feeling would soon vanish though if that neighbour promptly informed you that they had filmed your arrest, and that he wasn’t afraid to use it.

In a particularly bizarre case, 38-year-old Bray man Neil Tormey was given a two and a half year suspended sentence at Wicklow Criminal Court after pleading guilty to a single count of blackmail of the woman in question as well as her employer on December 9th and 10th 2016, contrary to Section 17 of the Criminal Justice (Public Order) Act 1994.

Detective Garda Brian Saunderson said in court that Tormey had witnessed the woman’s arrest on December 4th and decided to record it with his phone because he knew who she was.

He then contacted her employer five days later, stating that he would give the footage to the press – “who would pay good money for it” – if he was not paid €5,000 the following day.

Giving his name and phone number to the employee, Tormey initially looked for cash but later said he would accept a cheque. The employer contacted the woman, and then the gardaí.

The recording was found to be on a phone in Torrey’s possession, and CCTV also revealed the accused filming the arrest.

Under cross-examination by counsel for the accused, Maurice Coffey SC, the detective agreed that Torrey’s actions were “fairly hare-brained”.

For her part, the woman described the whole experience as stomach-churning and “surreal”, recalling that she thought Tormey was attempting to help her when he approached the taxi that night, rather than making an overt threat to her career.

Nonetheless, she quickly realised something wasn’t right, and refused to get out of the taxi, as she feared Tormey might be mentally unstable.

For his part, Tormey only pleaded guilty to the offence on the day he was due to go on trial, in July 2022. The court this week heard that the Wolfe Tone father-of-two had 15 previous convictions, mostly traffic offences but one in 2017 for possession of drugs.

The counsel for the accused said that his client experienced a “Damascene conversion”, and could not understand why he originally tried to fight the case. He also pointed out that Tormey suffers from a post-traumatic stress disorder from being assaulted earlier in 2016, and was drunk and under the influence “to a significant degree” on the night he filmed the woman’s arrest.

Mr Tormey said he was “completely embarrassed” by the offence and wished he had never done such a “terrible” thing. His counsel stated that the accused had since turned his life around, and started his own business, which was very successful.

The two victims accepted an offer of compensation of €10,000 from Tormey, which would be paid to a charity.