A plumber from the U.K. who hooked up with a closeted married man then tried extorting him for thousands of dollars just pleaded guilty to blackmail.
According to Chester Crown Court records, 31-year-old Benjamin Muskett, a father of two, hatched a “vicious” plot to seduce closeted married men then extort them for cash while he was staying in a hospital earlier this year.
Muskett would connect with guys through online dating sites. It’s unclear just how many victims fell prey to his ploy, but one of them was a 51-year-old man referred to as “Mr. X” in court documents.
The two agreed to meet up for sex on September 2.
“An arrangement was made whereby the complainant, Mr. X, traveled to Sandbach and met in the car park of Co-op,” Hussey said. “He met the defendant who had given his name as Lee.”
“The defendant got into Mr. X’s vehicle and after a discussion they agreed to travel out to a country lane.”
Mr. X, who is married to a woman, performed oral sex on Muskett, who is also in a relationship with a woman. A few days later, he received a series of threatening notes from Muskett.
“He received messages demanding that he pay up £5,000 in cash,” Hussey told the court. “If he didn’t then there would be uploaded to the website a video that was taken of what they had been doing.”
Terrified of being outed to his family, Mr. X called police.
“The fact that he is a married man was uppermost in Mr. X’s mind in taking the decision to come forward,” said Hussey.
The next day, police arrested Muskett. He confessed to blackmail, though he said he was bluffing about the video thing. No such footage actually existed.
In court, Muskett’s lawyer said he only did it out of desperation and love for his family: “He was on benefits and felt unable to provide for his family. He’s a fully qualified plumber.”
He added: “In the cold light of day he realizes how stupid he’s been and apologizes unreservedly to Mr X.”
This didn’t sway the judge, however.
Muskett was sentenced to three years behind bars.
“This crime was particularly vicious because it was planned and deliberate,” Judge Berkson told the defendant. “You set up a profile on that website in order to carry out this crime.”
Related: Man pleads guilty to seducing over 150 straight men and tricking them into having sex on camera
Rock-N-RollHS
I see a porn movie in the making.
Juanjo
It will probably be on men.com by this weekend.
Mr_Heffel
Lmao oh how sad that is, but true
fuzzywuzznt
Tale as old as time. Been there, seen the video. Sold it on Ebay.
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I see a porn movie in the making. – ha-ha-ha And I’d like to recommend you one unique place to find what you really need. Just check my profile. There are a lot of pretty gays looking for love and pleasure
QueerTruth
Karma for all.
DistingueTraces
How is “plumber” the most relevant detail here?
Lacuevaman
plumber, priest, cowboy, security guard, school teacher, MP, drag queen….what’s your point?
startenout
I’m sorry, but blackmail isn’t the worst thing here. How about cheating on your wife or partner? You want anonymity? Then lay for it with a rentboy. At least the closet cases would be stimulating the economy.
Geeker
The only one I feel sorry for here is the poor wife.
Luna1979
This is the result of acting dishonestly. You leave yourself open for other dishonest people to join you in a free-for-all.
Very sorry this man is in the closet with a wife and 2 kids. Sorry mostly for them, but really, what’s the point these days? He’s wasting his own life. He could find a genuinely nice guy and be happy. Instead, he’s getting blackmailed by a broke plumber?! Is that better? Hope it was his wake-up call.