Going after the bad guys often means that you have to make sure you don’t end up being one of them yourself. This is the lesson a South Yorkshire Police officer has learned after she was sentenced to three years in prison by the Leeds Crown Court.

According to the court, the officer tracked down a sex offense suspect and attempted to extract money from them through blackmail. The policeman posed as a vigilante group that specifically focuses on discovering such criminals and exposing them to the world.

Suspected Sex Offender Extorted for £3,500

To keep things hushed, PC Marie Thompson offered the suspects to pay her money to keep things under tight wraps, while she used the illegal proceeds to fuel her gambling passion. PC Thompson used burner emails to request £3,500 ($4,600) from the suspect and threatened to reveal information about the man possessing indecent images of children.

PC Thompson was in charge of the investigation against the suspect, who was arrested in October 2022. He was released and placed under investigation, but soon after that, he ended up receiving a threatening email signed by the rather evocative “Paedophile Hunters” group.

Yet, this was not a true vigilante group but PC Thompson abusing her position. Assuring the suspect that the information would remain “between them,” PC Thompson requested the money.

In a twist of events, the suspect reported back to PC Thompson and said that he was being blackmailed, denying any wrongdoing. PC Thompson, afraid that she may be tracked down, received the complaint but falsely argued that the suspect had not intended to press charges or pursue it in an attempt to hide her own involvement.

Constable’s Colleague Goes on the Offensive, Unearths the Conspiracy

PC Thompson then sent an apologetic email to the suspect, titled “I am sorry.” PC Thompson eventually stepped down in 2023, but she was replaced by a colleague who, going through the case load, eventually visited the suspect, who told him how he had been blackmailed but never heard from PC Thompson in the matter.

The colleague quickly established that the constable had buried the complaint and traced her steps, eventually identifying her as the source of the extortion. In court, PC Thompson told the judge that she suffered from a severe gambling disorder that had pushed her into desperation to procure more funds to gamble.