Coleen Rooney blackmail plot: Jail for pair who demanded £5k for photos of son Kai

  • Pictures were touted for sale to newspapers and magazines

By
Daily Mail Reporter

Last updated at 10:04 AM on 31st January 2012

Two men were jailed yesterday for trying to blackmail Coleen Rooney for £5,000 to return pictures of her footballer  husband Wayne and their son.

The photos were on her digital camera which ended up in the hands of Lee Platt after she lost it at a concert.

Platt, 29, recognised personal pictures of Manchester United star Rooney and the couple’s  two-year-old son Kai on the memory card.

Lee Platt, 28, arrives at Manchester Crown Court

Steven Malcolm, 42 arrives at Manchester Crown Court

Lee Platt, 29, and Steven Malcolm, 42 arrive at Manchester Crown Court where they were jailed for blackmail and receiving stolen goods

Jennifer Green admitted assisting in the retention of stolen goods

Jennifer Green admitted assisting in the retention of stolen goods

With his girlfriend Jennifer Green and accomplice Steven Malcolm, he tried to sell the photos and camera back to them.

The trio initially demanded £1,000 but
upped this to £5,000 and also tried to sell the images to Hello!
magazine and two  tabloid newspapers, Manchester Crown Court was told.

Appearing at Manchester Crown Court, Lee Platt, 29, was jailed for two years after admitting blackmail and receiving stolen goods at an earlier hearing.

His co-defendant, Steven Malcolm, 42, was jailed for 20 months for the same offences.

Platt got his hands on the memory stick of Mrs Rooney’s camera, which went missing while she was watching a pop concert at the M.E.N. Arena in Manchester on May 24, 2010.

Platt’s girlfriend, Jennifer Green, 26, was sentenced to a 12-month community order and told to perform 40 hours of unpaid work after admitting assisting in the retention of stolen goods.

Deborah Gould, prosecuting, said Coleen Rooney made a victim impact statement last week.

‘She indicates that she would use her camera to take personal photographs; photographs not intended to reach the media, purely private photographs,’ said Miss Gould.

‘She realised when she left the concert she no longer had the camera and it was reported stolen.’

She added Mrs Rooney said it was ‘upsetting’ to receive a request for money during a period of ‘unwanted media activity’ for her husband.

‘What was particularly distressing was that the family pictures were of no relevance to anyone else other than her and her family,’ she continued.

‘And it was said that the pictures showed her husband in some state which was untrue and caused her distress.’

Sentencing, Judge Anthony Gee QC said: ‘Blackmail is a vile and despicable offence, preying on the vulnerable and causing great distress. The courts must do what can be done to deter such offences.’

He regarded Platt as the ‘main offender’. Addressing him, the judge said: ‘You obtained the (memory) card and the camera, and involved your girlfriend and Steven Malcolm.

‘You were directing the operations. The other two were doing your bidding, albeit willingly.’

He said Platt’s claim to Rooney’s representatives that the card contained a number of pictures showing the footballer in a drunken state was untrue.

‘That was a ploy on your part,’ the judge said. ‘You put that forward in an effort to extort more money from the Rooneys and the club by pretending some of the photographs would be embarassing for them. That was pure fiction.’

He reduced his sentence for pleading guilty at the first opportunity.

Malcolm sought to blame Platt during his
trial as he claimed he was an innocent dupe but eventually admitted his
guilt during cross-examination.

The memory stick reportedly contained personal pictures of Wayne and Coleen Rooney and their son Kai

The memory stick reportedly contained family pictures of Wayne and Coleen Rooney and their son Kai

He played a lesser role but still an important one, said Judge Gee.

The court ordered the card to be returned to its owners. The camera has not been recovered.

Platt, of Blackley, Manchester, had a lengthy number of past convictions including theft from an employer, handling stolen goods and making false representations.

He was on bail for another matter of handling stolen goods at the time he committed the blackmail and was jailed for 16 months for the former offence at Bolton Crown Court last April.

Malcolm, of Chorlton, in Manchester, had several previous convictions – mainly for disorder and violence – but had also committed burglaries and theft. He has not previously served a custodial sentence.

Green, also of Blackley, had no previous convictions.

It was not known how or who had stolen the camera but David Toal, representing Platt, said his client came into its possession ‘innocently’ during the course of his work.

‘He concedes later having seen what was on the camera that it was stolen goods but he did not seek to initially make money dishonestly and refrained from doing so despite encouragement from others,’ he said.

A later surge in media publicity surrounding Wayne Rooney may have changed all that, Mr Toal conceded.

‘On any view this was an amateurish venture,’ he said. ‘It was a venture that from the outset was bound to fail.

‘He is fully remorseful and as a family man appreciates he has done wrong and the hurt and distress he has caused.’

Iain Johnstone, for Malcolm, said it was his client’s case that he knew nothing of the blackmail plot until the day before he was arrested when meeting up with the undercover police officer.

Andrew Jebb, representing Green, said: ‘She has lost her good character. Her family have made clear their significant disapproval of what she got herself involved in.’

Here’s what other readers have said. Why not add your thoughts,
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The comments below have been moderated in advance.

They got 2 years. Same as the guy who killed a soldier by speeding whilst drunk in his car !!
Now lets test the merits of both grievances. One family lose a son forever. One very rich family lose a few photos of their son. Same sentencing ???

erm, but we can’t lock up rapists, people who kill driving or serial offenders because we don’t have space/it’s against their rights/they need to be fixed outside prison etc blah blah blah

They must be stupid. £5,000 and 2 years each behind bars. They should have studdied the laws before demanding the money.

lost my digital camera and a couple of hoodies found out it was mine. They came over with the camera and I gave them £100 for their honesty. They were delighted. If the two blackmailing idiots had done the same they would probably been given a large reward and would not now have a criminal record. what a bunch of losers. Enjoy your stay in prison. – Alistair Hillier Manser, Sandbanks UK, 30/1/2012 18:31 ——————- £100 reward… Really..? i would have let them keep the camera and bought a new one for £100
– iPod generation, on a street near you, 30/1/2012 18:56 Yeah right. It was a Canon G12.

I don’t agree with what they did and think it is correct that they are put in prison, however, Its the same court which allowed those men to walk free, after they seriously assaulted the young man for simply asking them to stop kicking bins around. Are they saying that its ok to kick a member of the public half to death, but you must not upset a footballer and his wife?

Reading of the past convictions of this pair they appear to be hardened criminals. What happened to the 3 strikes policy. Any prolific offender should receive a life sentence so that they can be jailed for good if the don’t stopp offending.

Scum. Nasty attempt at blagging a few k’s from private family pics. Hopefully a stay @ hm prisons, with tv, play stations, drugs, mobile phones and endless networking opportunities should really sort them out.

I bet it wouldn’t have been a 2 year sentence if the victims hadn’t been famous.

As long as the woman was spared jail, all is ok. We must send out the message that it’s ok to be the partners of these type of guys. You won’t go to jail.

In my opinion, the sentence fits the crime, but one cant help but wonder if it is the same UK justice system where killers get just about the same sentence or even less. Some even get off free with grievous bodily harm because they are “not used to alcohol”. *shakes my head*

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