Conman blackmailed good Samaritan with threat of false rape complaint

During his sentencing, Liverpool Crown Court heard how Stephen Challis, of Adcote Lane in Dovecote, Liverpool, attended a St Helens-based charity's premises on Wednesday, December 7, 2022.

There, the 24-year-old met the complainant, who cannot be identified due to reporting restrictions.

After falling into a conversation with Challis, whom he had never met before, the complainant offered his phone number and told him to call him if he were ever homeless.

Prosecutor Frank Dillan told the court that the following day, Challis called the man and asked if he could stay at his address.

READ > Man charged after woman 'hit on head by wooden plank'

When they met at a nearby church two hours later, Challis was accompanied by a young woman, whom the victim told could not also stay, before returning home.

The court then heard that Challis phoned the complainant numerous times to express his unhappiness at the refusal.

Eventually, Challis told the victim that the woman got on a train – but then threatened that he would get him "done for rape".

This threat was repeated in several calls, the court heard, and when the complainant told him nobody would believe it, Challis said he would tell the police he had worn a condom to explain a lack of DNA evidence.

In one call, Challis demanded that the claimant pay him £500 or else he would go through with his threat of reporting the victim for rape.

The same evening, the complainant received a phone call from a woman who claimed she was from Humberside Police, and that Challis had made a statement alleging that he had raped him and touched a 13-year-old girl.

The same woman asked the claimant to withdraw £250 from his bank account and leave it under a nearby bush, claiming that four officers were watching to arrest whoever collected the money.

The victim, who believed the woman was a real officer, agreed to do so the following Saturday.

But the next day he went back to the charity premises and spoke to a member of staff about the threats he had been receiving, who then called the police.

While still at the centre, the complainant received a text message from the same woman, who now identified herself as PC Stuart.

Challis was sentenced at Liverpool Crown Court (Image: Stock)

On Saturday, December 10, 2022, just after midnight, the victim withdrew £250 from his account, placed the money in a plastic bag under the bush and phoned the defendant to tell him where the money was.

At 10am, he returned to the bush and found that the money was still there.

While by the bush, the woman claiming to be PC Stuart phoned him again to say that the bush was being observed by officers, and that he should meet her at a café.

The victim, who could not find the café, then returned back to the bush to find the money had gone.

The court heard that calls to the defendant and to the woman went unanswered until the defendant told him to stop calling.

“You decided to repay kindness by trying to blackmail him,” said Judge David Swinnerton.

“Threats that you made were particularly nasty because they were threats to falsely accuse him of rape.”

Challis, who was represented by defence barrister Julian Nutter, previously pleaded guilty to the charge of blackmail on July, 21, 2023.

He was sentenced to two years immediate imprisonment, as well as being given a three-year restraining order against the complainant.