Blackmailer made death threats in plot against Birmingham supermarket
Jul 18 2009 by Mark Cowan, Birmingham Mail
A BLACKMAILER calling himself Scorpio made threats to kill in a £3 million plot against a Birmingham supermarket, it was revealed today.
The attempted blackmail attempt bore chilling echoes of the Clint Eastwood blockbuster Dirty Harry.
Specialist detectives were drafted in after bosses at the Co-op, in Erdington, received a demand which made threats to kill unless the multi-million pound ransom was paid. The demand was signed ‘Scorpio’.
In the famous 1971 movie Dirty Harry, San Francisco is held in the grip of a killer called Scorpio who tries to extort money from city chiefs while targeting innocent victims. West Midlands Police said they were alerted to the attempted blackmail plot in July 2008 after bosses at the store raised the alarm.
No money was ever paid.
Officers from West Midlands Police’s Serious and Organised Crime Unit probed the blackmail demand in an investigation which spanned several months and the threats were never carried out.
They worked alongside the company whose spokesman said today: “We take extortion threats very seriously and have systems and processes in place to ensure that perpetrators will be caught and prosecuted.
“We are pleased that these stringent procedures have helped.”
West Midlands’ Serious and Organised Crime Unit was set up in April 2008 to tackle high-level criminals threatening the region.
