Two woman have shared how they were "trapped by shame" after a fraudster blackmailed them out of more than £80,000 by threatening to leak explicit photos of them. Zeashan Mahmood led his victims to believe he would marry them and coerced them into sending sexual images - which he then threatened to share with their friends and family if they didn't meet his financial demands.
The married 30-year-old also uploaded the pictures to a porn website and told other users to share them further, Manchester Evening News reports. “It got so bad I would walk past people in the street and feel they knew what he had said about me", one victim said. “I started to believe the names he called me."
The woman, who said Mahmood's constant harassment left her so terrified that she had CCTV installed in her home, added: “I felt trapped, with no way out. I couldn’t tell anyone because it was so shameful.”
The other victim, who lives in New York, said she was in survival mode and relapsed into self-harm. The twisted blackmailer made rape threats to her and her sisters and left her feeling that suicide was her only option, reports LancsLive.
But Mahmood told her: “Killing yourself isn’t an option. You do that and I’m coming for your family. I want £1,000 a month from you. If you don’t do that, pictures will be posted.”
Sentencing Mahmood to seven years and three months in prison, Judge Heather Lloyd said Mahmood targeted the women, who were of Muslim heritage, knowing that his threats would bring shame upon them. One victim was especially vulnerable as she has autism and dyspraxia. Over five years she handed over more than £65,000 to Mahmood after he told her he had video footage of her kissing another man at a cinema.
At one stage he set up fake social media profiles and posed as his own twin brother to tell her Zeashan had died from cancer. However, he continued to extort money from the vulnerable young woman using fake social media accounts - leaving her penniless and unable to buy basic essentials.
The woman later told police she initially thought Mahmood was "a kind person who accepted her flaws" but said he had two sides to him and the other side was "mean and nasty". She met with her abuser at hotels in Manchester where they would have sex.
She said this was the only time he showed her he wanted to be with her, but thought this was just him "being a man". As far as she was concerned, she wanted to marry him and they would effectively be married if she slept with him, she said.
In 2015, the woman told her mum she owed money and asked for help paying it back. Over a five year period the mother estimated she handed over between £25,000 and £30,000 to help her daughter.
"Mahmood made regular demands on her to perform sexual acts on other males and provide photographic evidence", Rachel Woods, prosecuting, said. "He threatened if his demands weren't met he would provide the footage to her friends and family if she did not make the money."
In one chilling message, he told her: “Whatever I say, you do. If I tell you to f***, you f***, if I tell you to suck, you suck. No excuses. Once you have paid £10k you must tell your mum you are seeing Zee again.”
In 2018, the woman told her mum she was going to marry a man called Zeashan, who lived in Bolton. However the same year, she was contacted by a man claiming to be Mahmood's twin brother, Raman.
He claimed Zeshan had died from cancer and asked him to look after her when he passed. "Coincidentally, Raman shared the same phone number, bank account and car as Zeashan", Ms Woods said. "This perhaps demonstrates the victim's naivety and vulnerability that she believed him."
In December 2020, Mahmood demanded £4,000 but the woman was unable to pay. She had borrowed from her mum and siblings and had run up an overdraft and credit card to continue paying Mahmood. She told her mum what had been happening and the police were called.
During their investigation, police identified a second victim, who lived in America, who had started a relationship with Mahmood online - believing it would lead to marriage. However when the woman's parents arranged a marriage with someone locally, the defendant turned on her.
He said if she spoke to police he would kill her children, adding: "I will personally make sure every guy, rapist and paedophile in New York City knows your face. When I have finished with you, you won't be living in Brooklyn. You will be on the streets, but don't worry, I will pay to f*** your sisters so you will have money", he told her.
“Zeashan Mahmood took advantage of my vulnerability”, she said. “He violated me in horrendous ways from which I am still recovering. He said if he ended up in prison because I had reported him, he would have no issue hurting a child I planned to have in the future.
“He threatened to come to my house and have sex with me, whether I wanted to or not. He was trying to perform an Islamic marriage over Facebook Messenger but because I failed the test there would be no marriage. To say he did it for money would be wrong. His ego was hurt and he wanted to hurt me physically and emotionally.”
Friends and family gave testimonials to the court in which they described Mahmood as a helpful friend.
But handing down the sentence, Judge Lloyd said: “I have read the letter you have written in which you say you are a kind hearted person. That is not the person your victims had to deal with. References from your family and friends say that to them you are helpful and kind, but I am afraid they are deluded in their opinion of you and the risks you pose. You committed this at a time when you were married to either your first wife or your second wife.
“She was of the view that you had respect for women. I have to disagree. In their letters, your mother and the prison chaplain say you have made a terrible mistake. No, you have not. What you have done is quite deliberately conducted a course of conduct against two vulnerable women over about five years.
“This was a planned and prolonged course of conduct and in several ways, sophisticated. You preyed on these women to fund your lifestyle. Victim one was particularly vulnerable. You managed to convince both that there was a realistic marriage prospect. This couldn’t have been the case because you were a married man with children.
“I have to note your victims were of Muslim origin, to whom you would well know that sexual conduct outside of marriage would make any exposure shameful. You targeted these women, having lured them in and made each of their lives a misery.”
Mahmood, of Foxtail Close, Clifton, pleaded guilty to two counts of blackmail and three counts of distributing indecent images with intent to cause distress. A total of £85,000 was handed over by the woman but the court heard there are a further £130,000 of 'unexplained payments' into Mahmood's accounts.
A Proceeds of Crime hearing will take place in due course.
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