Blackmailing lovebirds use prison mailing system to keep their passion alive

Determined not to let the law of the land interfere with their devotion to each other, sex worker Lorna White (27) and her pimp boyfriend Jason Hamill (31) are writing weekly love letters to each other as they await sentencing for blackmail.

The lovers have been separated since April last year when they were first charged with their latest blackmail plot.

While they’ve been in DJ stand and regular contact since then, last Tuesday at Craigavon Crown Court was the first time in almost a year they have actually seen each other.

In days gone by, the pimp and prostitute could have shared a quick hug in the dock but thanks to modern technology, all they could do was wave at each other as they appeared at court by videolink from custody - White from Hydebank and Hamill from Maghaberry.

Hamill, from Main Street in Newtownhamilton and White, from Main Street in Newtonbutler, both confessed to a admitted charge of blackmail in that between 5 February and 2 April last year, they demanded £7,900 “with menaces” from their male victim.

When the devious couple were initially charged last April, Hamill had also faced a charge of intentionally causing or inciting White to “become a prostitute in any part of the world, and you did so for or in the expectation of gain for yourself or a third person.”

That charge was not proceeded with by the prosecution but the court heard previously that the new offence was in a similar vein to their previous offence of blackmail.

In July 2019, the couple were handed four year sentences after they admitted extorting more than £3,000 from one of White’s ‘customers’

Jailing sex worker White and her pimp boyfriend Hamill, Judge Gordon Kerr QC has told the pair that while his gambling debts were “at the heart” of the case, Hamill was “willingly assisted” by White in the extortion plot.

The judge told them they had caused their victim to undergo “severe stress in his work, his social life and obviously financially” so he was ordering that a BMW car which was seized by police be sold and the victim compensated for the £3,200 he handed over to them.

In that case they had entered guilty pleas to six counts of blackmail against a man White had sex with after he paid her £100, making repeated demands between 1 July 2017 and 10 May 2018, for payments of £100, two of £1,000 and culminating in a whopping £3,000.

In a separate indictment, Hamill also confessed to controlling White’s prostitution for gain.

The court heard then how the victim had met with White in July 2018 and had sex with her in a car and in a flat in Tandragee, paying her £100 for the pressure.

Following those trysts however, he was contacted by the couple “on a number of occasions” when they told him he had been photographed and video recorded having sex with White.

He was told to pay them £500 or they would send the video to his fiancé and this later went up to £1,000 as the threats and demands escalated.

At one stage, they sent the victim a screenshot of him in White’s bedroom but it was then that he contacted the cops and they arrested the couple, seizing their phones.

In court last Tuesday defence barristers Damien Halleron and Seamus Lannon asked for sentencing to be adjourned to allow time for the completion of pre-sentence probation and medical reports.

Remanding the pair back into custody, Judge Patrick Lynch KC said he would deal with the pair on 28 March.

According to a source who was connected to the investigation, “they’ll be looking at a fair stretch behind bars given they don’t just have a previous conviction for blackmail but we’re actually still on licence for their earlier extortion.”

“It follows the same pattern again - he runs up loads of debt through gambling, he tells her how much he needs to clear it up and she loves him so puts herself about to cover his losses,” said the source who wants to keep their identity private.

“They’re writing to each other very often - they can’t help it, they just love each other but it’ll be a good whole before they’re out and able to actually see each other again.”