BLACKMAILERS who preyed on a bric-a-brac dealer after he made the £140,000 find of a lifetime were jailed yesterday.
Dealer Mark Tarbitt, who picked up an 18th Century Chinese vase at a country auction for £450 and went on to sell it at Christie's, in London, for £140,000 was targeted by two men who threatened to wrongly accuse him of child abuse.
Michael Murphy, 26, was found guilty at Newcastle Crown Court of five counts of blackmail between February and July last year and jailed for eight years.
David McCafferty, 35, was cleared of one count, but found guilty of four others and jailed for seven years.
The court heard how the pair followed Mr Tarbitt to fairs around the country and repeatedly demanded cash after they learned of his good fortune with the vase.
They at first demanded a few hundred pounds, but Mr Tarbitt finally went to the police when they demanded £20,000.
Murphy, of North King Street, North Shields, Tyneside, was said to be the prime mover in the case while McCafferty, of Lawe Road, South Shields, was the muscle.
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