A bisexual millionaire
businessman got in trouble with the law after his secret sex life was
uncovered.
He made blackmail payments
totalling £628,000.
After eight years the
married father-of-three finally told his lawyers and police last August.
Anthony Still, 52, is
alleged to have been the blackmailer.
He denies a charge of making
unwarranted demands for money between June 2003 and August last year.
The businessman - whose name
is protected by the court and is known only as 'Barnaby' - contacted an escort
agency in 2002 and was put in contact with a teenage boy, aged 19, the jury was
told.
The pair met for sex and
took drugs but the contact between the two ended after the man paid the
teenager £2,000 to pay off a drugs debt, it was said.
Oliver Glasgow, prosecuting,
told the court the teenager's father, who was concerned about his son's erratic
behaviour, asked a man he knew who ran a security business to check out his
son.
Mr Glasgow said Still, who
had had worked for this firm in various roles, is believed to have learnt about
the relationship between the two.
The jury heard how Barnaby
was initially asked for £35,000 from a man he knew as 'Paul' and was told if he
did not pay up, the police and press would be told what he and the teenager had
been doing.
Mr Glasgow said the demands
continued after this payment with Still allegedly using 'ever-inventive'
schemes to get money from his victim.
Barnaby eventually decided
he could not go on with this and told police.
A search of Still's home in
Clacton, Essex, revealed a 'significant amount of paperwork' linking him to
Barnaby, Mr Glasgow said.
There was evidence Still had
allegedly researched the business and family background of Barnaby, Mr Glasgow
added.
Still told police the
blackmail had never taken place and the whole thing had been made up by
Barnaby.
The trial continues.
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