Jail sentences for photo blackmail trio

One of the men, an Emirati police corporal, denied that he threatened to send photos of a woman to her husband if she did not pay him.

DUBAI // Three men, including a policeman and a soldier, have been sentenced to jail for trespassing in a woman's house, taking pictures of her on her bed and blackmailing her for US$1 million (Dh3.67m).

SA, 30, an Emirati police corporal, denied in Dubai Criminal Court that he called the woman, threatening to send the photos to her husband if she did not pay him.

"Criminal investigation officers kidnapped my wife and are framing me," he told Judge Hamad Abdul Latif.

MM, 29, an Egyptian investor, also denied charges of trespassing and criminal complicity, as did the Emirati soldier NA, 23.

The incident happened in November last year in Al Qusais.

A Lebanese secretary working for the victim's husband testified that she received a call from the wife telling her the corporal had come to her house asking for financial help.

She refused because she did not know him, and he later called to say he had something that belonged to her, the secretary said.

She said the wife was told there were pictures of her meeting a man and that they would be sent to her husband if she did not pay the money.

Investigations revealed that the corporal had worked for the company owned by the victim's husband.

The three men were each sentenced to six months in prison.