The two men went to threaten the mum whilst she was at home with her children (Picture: MEN)
Two men who blackmailed an innocent mum into giving them thousands of pounds to pay off some of her ex’s drug debt have been jailed.
The victim was intimidated into paying cash towards her former partner’s drug habit by Christopher Swift, 30, and Sebastian Jones, 35, on October 7 last year.
After her young son opened the door, she managed to get her children upstairs before Swift launched into an ‘aggressive’ tirade against the helpless mother.
The pair appeared at Minshull Street Crown Court on Wednesday after pleading guilty to blackmail, with Judge Mark Savill calling it a ‘frightening incident’.
The court heard how Jones was tasked with collecting £15,000 after the victim’s ex ran up a drug debt.
Despite his large stature, Sebastian Jones (pictured) hired Christopher Swift to be the ‘muscle’ (Picture: MEN Media)
But Jones remained ‘silent’ throughout the incident and hired Swift to ‘be the muscle’.
Prosecuting, David Lees said the pair knocked on the victim’s door at around 5pm.
Swift then threatened the woman, telling her he had ‘put the windows through’ the wrong house before and didn’t want to do the same to hers ‘because [she has] children’.
Swift then told her: ‘I’m from Salford, mate. I’m not from round here. I’ll go to his [her ex-partner’s] mother’s house and blow her f***ing head off.’
Mr Lees told the court the victim was ‘worried for herself and her family’ following the threats, and scraped together £1,000 of her own money, and £2,000 of her father’s money, and put it through Jones’ letterbox, before reporting the incident to the police.
Swift used his Salford roots to threaten the victim (Picture: MEN Media)
Defending Swift, Adam Watkins said he had shown ‘evidence of remorse’.
In response, Judge Mark Savill said: ‘I’m sorry to say this, but what was he thinking? We don’t live in a lawless society. He is not a gangster.’
Mr Watkins said Jones accepted he had ‘crossed a line’ by going to the victim’s family home. He said his involvement was ‘short-lived’ that there was an ‘absence of actual violence’.
Defending Jones, Keith Harrison said it was ‘obviously a serious case’, but that Jones had ‘said nothing’ and ‘did nothing aggressive during the encounter’.
‘Mr Swift you have been in trouble almost all of your life,’ the judge said.
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‘You have a family. You have a child. You have certain mental health issues. But you can’t stay clear of trouble.’
He handed Swift, of Dover Road, Salford, a sentence of 27 months.
Sentencing Jones, Judge Savill said he had been ‘hardworking’ since 2015 and that there was a ‘real distinction’ between the man described by his family and the man that knocked on the victim’s door.
Jones, of Dickens Street, Oldham, was jailed for 24 months.
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‘I’m from Salford mate.’