Jail for man who blackmailed and threatened victims

A MAN who blackmailed, threatened and assaulted his victims has been jailed for more than three years.

Thomas Pilgrim, 31, of no fixed address, was arrested in November last year on suspicion of a number of robberies and frauds in Cambridge.

Police learnt how Pilgrim forced one of his victims to constantly drive him around in his car, threatening him if he did not take him to various places.

This was followed by demands for money, forcing the victim to withdraw hundreds of pounds from cashpoints and threatening to stab him if he told anyone about the cash.

Another victim was made to withdraw about £350 in cash at various locations and hand it over to Pilgrim, again being threatened if he did not comply.

Whilst making a third victim drive him around Cambridge, Pilgrim got out of the car and fought with another man who then joined them in the car, making the victim fear for his life.

He was later charged with fraud, affray, two counts of kidnap and two counts of robbery but denied the allegations against him.

On 16 April he was due to stand trial at Cambridge Crown Court but entered guilty pleas to affray, fraud and blackmail, which were accepted by the judge. The remaining three charges will lie on file.

On Tuesday (22 May) he appeared at the same court and was sentenced to a total of 37 months and 20 weeks in prison; 27 months for blackmail, 10 months for affray and 20 weeks for fraud, all to run consecutively.

He was also made subject of an indefinite restraining order preventing him from contacting any of his victims.

Detective Constable Paul Evans said: “Pilgrim took advantage of his victims and made them fear for their own safety, these incidents have had a considerable impact on their lives and I hope that by knowing Pilgrim is now behind bars they will be able to move on with their lives.”