‘Sextortionist' who demanded cash from vulnerable men convicted of impersonating cop

Samantha Young (32) was sentenced to five months’ imprisonment, suspended for two years, for contacting one victim to claim she was a detective constable.

Earlier this month Young, of Wilgar Close in the east of Belfast city, avoided being sent to jail after she admitted charges of blackmail and fraud.

It was revealed that she had been in communication with two men on an adult website in May 2020.

One victim was told if he did not make a payment of £200 to Young then details of their sexual conversation would be disclosed to his friends and family.

The second man, described as suffering from autism, was contacted and paid £260 in total.

Young received a 12-month sentence, suspended for two years, after admitting those offences.

But she appeared back at Belfast Magistrates’ Court today to be dealt with for separate charges of impersonating a police officer and possessing Class A drugs.

Prosecutors said one of the victims informed the PSNI that he had been in conversation with a woman who used the username ‘Jessica Rose19’.

Police established a link to Young’s phone and went to her home on May 23, 2020, finding a small bag of white powder.

Forensic tests subsequently confirmed that it contained cocaine.

A Crown lawyer set out how a second victim received a phone call following online communication on July 11, 2020.

“A lady was on the line saying that she was a named police officer from Strandtown Police Station,” the prosecutor said.

“The injured party handed the phone to his mother, who was unsure that the person on the phone was the female detective constable that she alleged (to be).”

He added: “That phone call, saying I am a detective constable was made from her device to one of the injured parties.”

An examination of Young’s devices confirmed the communication between her and the victim.

District Judge Mark McGarrity questioned why the cases were not dealt with together.

“It seems to form part of the same facts as the blackmail,” he observed.

Declining to impose probation for the impersonation and drugs offences, Mr McGarrity instead decided to hand down a suspended prison term.

He warned Young: “If you commit any imprisonable offence within two years of today’s date you will go to prison for at least five months.”