Blackmail trial told accused flashed cash

Published on Saturday 30 May 2009 11:18

AN ALLEGED blackmailer, accused of threatening to expose a married bank worker's affair with a sauna vice girl, went into a top clothes shop in the Capital brandishing a thick wad of £50 notes, a trial has heard.

Stephen Dobson, 39, and his brother John, 36, browsed in Cruise in George Street for more than half an hour before spending 640, the High Court in Edinburgh was told yesterday.

The visit was the same afternoon as a bank worker claims he was driven at knifepoint to a RBS branch just yards from the shop.

The 55-year-old man has told the trial he was forced to take out a loan and hand over 10,000 to the brothers after they threatened to tell his wife about his liaison.

The brothers, of William Jamieson Place, deny abduction, extortion and making threatening phone calls last October 17.

They claim they were simply collecting cash on behalf of sauna "masseuse" Catherine Purcell, 31, who called herself Cindy. The trial continues on Monday.