THOMAS MARTIN SENTENCED IN ANDOVER FOR BLACKMAIL AND CHILD PORNOGRAPHY
Thomas Martin, 30, created a Snapchat account under the pseudonym 'TomLock11' and engaged with a 15-year-old girl who was seeking someone to buy her tobacco.He agreed to buy the tobacco on the condition that she send him a revealing photograph of herself, which she did, and also shared his account with her friend.
Subsequently, Martin obtained indecent images of both girls and used these images to coerce them into sending more, threatening to share them publicly.
Russell Pyne, prosecuting, told Winchester Crown Court that Martin, of Launcelot Court, Andover, also sent explicit images of his penis and required the victims to watch him masturbate.
Mr.
Pyne stated: "(One of the victims) asked him to delete what he had.
The defendant replied saying that he wouldn’t but also would post them on four social media sites, Snapchat, Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram." He added, "The other girl said that she would go to the police, but he threatened her saying ‘he would ruin her life more than she could ruin his’.
He also sent an indecent image of the girl to her friend." The targeted blackmail operation ended after one of the victim’s stepmother saw her attempt to take an indecent photograph.
Following his arrest, authorities examined Martin’s phone, which contained multiple indecent images: one classified as Category A, the worst classification, ten Category B images, and two Category C images.
One of the victims reflected on the impact, saying, “The experience I went through definitely ruined my life for a while.
It was demeaning, I was scared that people would find out what happened.
I didn’t know who Tom Lock was or if he knew who I was.” The other victim described feeling violated and suffering panic attacks after the incident.
Martin previously admitted to two counts of blackmail between May 1 and October 21, 2019, involving the disclosure of private sexual photographs with intent to cause distress, as well as three charges of making indecent photographs of a child.
