Over the last year, blackmail offences have soared in Greater Manchester.
Greater Manchester Police have recorded a total of 834 cases in the year ending June 2021.
Over the same period 10 years earlier, officers recorded just 85 offences - by the year ending June 2017 that figure had climbed to 384 - which is still less than half as many as the most recent figures.
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But it has proved tough for police to bring offenders to justice for crimes.
Of blackmail cases recorded in the year ending June 2021, only 12 investigations by Greater Manchester Police (1.4%) have concluded with a suspect being charged or summonsed, and in more than nine out of 10 cases (91.0%) the offender got off scot-free.
In 48.7% of those crimes, that was because the investigation ended with no suspect being identified.
Here the Manchester Evening News has looked back on recent cases of blackmail in the Greater Manchester area.
Gary Galvin and Kelly Marshall
Gary Galvin created as many as ten fake Facebook profiles to torment two brothers, threatening them with murder and vowing to harm their family members if they did not pay ransoms.
His girlfriend Kelly Marshall, 27, allowed her Facebook account to be used in the blackmail plot.
The brothers were left 'terrified' and sold personal belongings and took out loans to pay Galvin, who sent a slew of vile messages over a ten month period.
They paid him 90 instalments totalling over £12,000, Minshull Street Crown Court heard, leaving them 'financially ruined'.
In one instance, Gavin pretended to be a woman and sent them a message saying: ''If you don’t pay up you will get visited through the door.''
Another message read: ''Ur getting me extremely angry, Reply or I’ll be at the door in 20 minutes. I literally don’t care but if it’s not in at 10am there will be murder.
"I’ll even stomp ur cat n dog. I’m not messing so don’t ask for time or anything like that it just p..ses me off more.'"
The brothers, named only as ''Mr M'' and ''Mr C'' in court, were too frightened to report Galvin for months but eventually went to police with their mother. Their total loss was £12,007.
Father-of-three Galvin admitted two charges of blackmail and was jailed for 32 months.
Marshall, 27, also of Ashton-under-Lyne, was given two years in jail suspended for 20 months after she admitted intentionally encouraging or assisting the commission of an offence.
Chisom Adams
Chisom Adams, 24, threatened to stab a woman and send an intimate picture of her to friends and family if she didn’t pay up.
Adams threatened the woman and took cash from her account without her permission over several months to pay off drug debts.
On one occasion, he told her that if she refused to withdraw money, he would stab her. Adams showed his victim a series of scars on his body claiming he had been knifed himself, Manchester Crown Court previously heard.
He filmed the woman engaging in an intimate act with him without her knowledge, which he later sent her in a Facebook message, threatening to send it to her family and friends if she refused to give him cash.
When the woman tried to break contact he taunted her with messages.
Adams told her: "You don't know what I've got against you, I could destroy your life with it."
He also told her 'a few family members would have to see something if she didn't let him in' and that 'his people would storm her flat', the court heard.
Adams was sentenced to three years and four months last December after admitting blackmail and three offences of theft.
At a Proceeds of Crime Act hearing, the court heard the total amount handed over was £12,314.
"The total amount available is £1,000.53," Helen Longworth, prosecuting said.
"The Crown ask for a confiscation order for £1,000.53 to be paid by way of compensation to the complainant, and to be paid within three months."
Harry Bowman
‘Controlling' predator Harry Bowman was jailed for 14 years after he blackmailed teenage girls into sending explicit images of themselves.
Bowman, of Whitlow Avenue, Golborne , was aged between 14 and 18 when he carried out the offences on seven victims.
The now 20-year-old also physically abused a number of the girls when they were below the age of consent.
He pleaded guilty to: six counts of making indecent photographs of a child; four counts of sexual activity with a child; four counts of causing a child to engage in sexual activity; three counts of inciting a child under 13 to engage in sexual activity and three counts of inciting child pornography.
He also admitted three counts of distributing indecent photographs of a child; causing a child to watch a sexual act; threatening to destroy or damage property, and sending an electronic communication with intent to cause distress or anxiety.
During a sentencing hearing at the Bolton Nightingale Court , prosecution barrister Robert Wyn Jones said that on one occasion, Bowman sent indecent images to a victim's sister and mother.
On another occasion he threatened to set a victim's house on fire.
The court heard that Bowman would entice the girls into sending indecent images of themselves and then use the images to blackmail them into sending more.
Sean Jones
Prisoner Sean Jones blackmailed a prison officer and was jailed for a further four and half years.
The 35-year-old was sentenced at Bolton Crown Court after pleading guilty to sending a letter conveying a threat, threats to commit damage, and possession of a mobile phone in prison.
The court heard how Jones, who was a serving prisoner in Greater Manchester, had been due to move to another prison in November, 2019 due to his disruptive attitude.
Jones later became aware of the move and, unhappy with the decision, requested a meeting with a prison official.
During the meeting, Jones passed the prison officer a note detailing threats directed towards the officer’s family if he was transferred.
The letter was immediately reported to police and Jones was later transferred to a prison in the North East of England in February, 2020.
The court heard how, during the move, he made further threats towards staff.
A mobile phone was later discovered among his belongings.
On November 23, 2020, the day Jones was due to be released from prison for possessing an imitation firearm and dangerous driving, he was arrested and charged for blackmail and remanded in custody.
Sarfraz Riaz
Thug Sarfraz Riaz terrorised an innocent couple and threatened to set their home on fire if they failed to hand over £11,000.
Riaz, 39, promised to involve gangsters if the couple failed to cough up the money he claimed their relative owed him.
Riaz said he lent the money to a friend he had been living with but, after the man failed to repay him, Riaz tracked down his family and ordered them to settle the debt.
The couple, who lived in the Wigan area, were left so terrified by Riaz's threats of violence that they were forced to flee their homes and jobs.
At Manchester Crown Court, Riaz was jailed for two years and seven months after pleading guilty to a charge of blackmail.
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