A CALL girl and her killer boyfriend have been told they are heading to jail after blackmailing clients.
Escort Emily Anne Akers, 23, and unemployed Carl Mason, 31, lured men to a house in Heworth in York before taking money from them and forcing them to leave without the sex they had paid for.
Akers and Mason, both formerly of Millgarth House in Harcourt Street, Heworth, were each convicted of conspiracy to steal and blackmail at York Crown Court yesterday and a judge warned them they are facing prison sentences.
Today The Press can reveal that Mason, who was also found guilty of two counts of battery, has a previous conviction for manslaughter as he was part of a gang that kicked and stamped York father-of-four Mick Brolly as he lay on the ground in Low Ousegate in September, 2001.
Mason’s four-year jail term for the crime was previously kept under wraps to prevent the jury in his latest conviction being prejudiced.
The five-day blackmailing trial heard that Akers had advertised herself as Jessica of York and placed her phone number on a website alongside the message “I just love sex – £140”.
One of the couple’s victims – identified in court only as Mr Brown – had already paid £160 for sex with Akers last September when Mason ordered him out of the house.
The man left his Blackberry device behind and the couple used it to contact him at a London hotel and blackmail him by threatening to send pictures of him with Akers to people he knew.
Mr Brown was told to hand over the £5,000 the pair demanded in a supermarket car park, but their target informed police and Mason was arrested while on the phone to him.
Ten days earlier, another client had been undressing when Mason suddenly leapt into view from a hiding-place wearing a balaclava and with a pitbull-type dog at his side. Mason attacked him and forced him out of the house.
The court heard the man had then banged on the couple’s door in anger, only for Mason to come out of the house waving a golf club and with the dog on a lead. Akers sprayed him with a red substance which led to him developing a rash.
The 12-strong jury returned a unanimous guilty verdict yesterday morning to all charges Akers and Mason faced.
Akers, in a black and white dress and black blazer, bowed her head and wept as the foreman announced the verdict.
Recorder Andrew Haslam told Akers, who was granted bail, and Mason, who was remanded in custody, that they would both be jailed when they were sentenced at Bradford Crown Court on April 27.
He said: “I have at the forefront of my mind an immediate custodial sentence for both of you and for a significant period.”
Following their arrests, Akers and Mason had told police the payments made to her were merely for companionship, but the two men had wanted more and Mason had stepped in to protect his girlfriend.
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