A 25-year-old man has been found guilty of attempting to blackmail a grandfather he met on Grindr.
The case took place in the UK. Kieran George Thurling, who lives in Uffculme, Devon, met his victim via the gay hookup app in September 2018. They met around eight times for sex before Thurling threatened to out him via a message sent in January this year.
The older man, now divorced, has children and grandchildren. His ex-wife and kids knew nothing about his sexual activity with other men.
Thurling told him that if he didn’t give him £400 ($506), he would put posters up around the local area outing him, reports Devon Live.
The older man told Thurling he’d have trouble finding the money. Thurling then raised the extortion amount to £600 ($760).
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He told his victim to drop the money off in an envelope at a specified location.
Instead of doing so, the old man – who has not been named – went to the police. He was unable to give them Thurling’s name as he did not know it and was unable to offer identifying details. He said the younger man had always worn a hooded top and it had been dark when they met.
The police suggested the victim drop of an envelope stuffed with paper at the designated drop-off point. He did so, and when Thurling went to retrieve it, the police swooped in to arrest him.
Thurling admitted blackmail. He told police he planned to use the money to go abroad and take his own life.
Appearing at Exeter Crown Court this week, Thurling was sentenced to two years in jail, suspended for 20 months, 150 hours of unpaid community work and 25 days of rehabilitation activities. He is also barred from contacting the victim or identifying him publicly.
Related: Drag queen busted for blackmailing man on Grindr, threatening to out him to his girlfriend
Sentencing Thurling, Judge David Evans said of the plan to blackmail the older man, “Having met initially on the internet, you threatened to expose his sexuality in a way calculated to cause him the utmost anxiety and fear.”
“With his family background, such a revelation would have turned his life upside down at a relatively late stage in his life.
“The psychological misery that would have resulted for him and others doesn’t bear calculating.”
The judge said he was suspending the sentence as Thurling had admitted the crime and shown remorse for his actions.
Chrisk
One will go to jail while the other gets to keep his secret. I don’t see any winners in this.
Troysky
@Chrisk…..you are right; no winners…but would things be better, if Kieran George Thurling succeeded with his blackmail, and the grandfather paid him? ….still no winners, but would that have been better?
grsplane
Times have fortunately changed. In the early 1950’s when Alan Turing was mugged by a trick he naively went to the police and was charged with gross indecency, forced to take chemical castration hormones and subsequently took his own life.
radiooutmike
I pity the old guy.
He was divorced and finally had the freedom to explore his desires. Then the dude he’s hooking up tries to blackmail him? And then some here are upset, he got to keep a “secret”?
What happened to ‘we all come out in our own time’ stance?
rickywintour
I’m almost 100% sure the grandfather used his ex-wife to keep up a straight image so I don’t feel bad for him. Gay men using women to keep a facade and hiding their sexuality has to stop. I can only imagine the hurt the ex-wife would go through finding out her marriage was probably a lie.
Aires the Ram
If he had given the punk one pound, the extortion threats would never have ended, and would have escalated. He did the right thing. Some people compartmentalize parts of their lives and keep them from anyone else. It is their prerogative to do so. It is not ours to suggest how he “ought” to behave.
rickywintour
It’s also his prerogative to expect shitty people on hookup apps. Sooner or later he’s gonna be outed and he won’t be able to stop it. If he so scared he might as well tell his ex-wife before anybody else can. Nobody owes him anything especially when it comes to elicit sexual situations.
IanHunter
I would have dropped off the envelope and waited for him to show up.
Kangol2
I’m so glad Thurling was caught, convicted and sentenced, though he should have served some prison time as a further deterrent.
Gadfeal
There is nothing like an old fool. Instead of wasting hours on Grindr and other hook-up sites, more mature gay men would prefer the immediacy and convenience of a specific “intimacy club”. Your identify, your possessions, your residence are not revealed. There is also less chance of violence or exploitation of vulnerable psyches. Finally, everyone is there for the same intent and, in the best of cases, the place is clean, informative and capable of socialization.
The bathhouses of yesteryear were such “oases” and also provided a face to face social interaction – today’s youth have only a pale version of social contact through apps.
I also am in favor of well-run houses for remunerated services. There are Eros houses in Germany, regulated, subject to standards, medical services. I have heard there is one specialized with male workers. To get one’s rocks off, it is much cleaner, safer, efficient and humane to have such places.