A blackmailer who posed as a woman online to coerce a male teacher into sending an explicit video — before sharing it with his pupils and costing him his job — has been jailed for 15 months.
Muaawiya Ameen, 21, of Allenton, Derbyshire, pleaded guilty to blackmail at Derby Crown Court. The court heard that his victim, who attempted to take his own life after the footage was circulated, had been driven to the brink by the ordeal.
Prosecutors told the hearing that the teacher had made contact with an Instagram account he believed belonged to a woman, and that the exchange had quickly become sexual. After images were traded between the two accounts, the teacher sent a video of himself carrying out a sexual act in the disabled toilets at his workplace. Ameen, still posing as a woman, agreed to a video call that never took place, and instead demanded £1,000 to prevent the footage being shared.
In a desperate attempt to stop the clip from being released, the teacher transferred £400 via PayPal before reporting the matter to police on the same day. Despite the payment, Ameen went on to send the footage to the teacher’s students. The victim — who has lifelong anonymity as the subject of blackmail — was subsequently dismissed from his post and attempted to take his own life on the night the video was circulated.
Sentencing him, Judge Shaun Smith KC delivered a stark assessment of Ameen’s conduct. “The fact of the matter was this was wicked behaviour and led to a man losing his job,” he said. “He went through all of the worries about his privacy, reputation and personal safety. Even when the money was paid you still sent it out with all of the students looking at it.”
The judge added: “He was finished in his job but worst of all, on the very night it was published, he tried to take his own life. Thankfully someone called him by chance and he says that saved his life. You know what you were doing and you achieved it.”
In a statement read to the court, the victim described contemplating suicide and the immense emotional toll the episode had taken on him.
Mitigating on Ameen’s behalf, Joseph Chivayo told the court that his client had acted under pressure while trying to fit in with people he believed were his friends. “He fully accepts his actions were wrong and he is responsible,” Mr Chivayo said. “He works part-time on a family business and there is a reference from his employer which speaks of his hard work. He has the support of his family and his father sits in court today. This has been a learning experience for him.”
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