Blackmailed royal 'sought help'

Ian Strachan (above) and Sean McGuigan deny blackmail charges

A Royal Family member at the centre of a gay sex blackmail plot told a friend to do "whatever it takes" to protect his family, the Old Bailey has heard.

The friend, known as Witness C, helped Scotland Yard set up a sting with an undercover policeman.

The move put Ian Strachan, 31, and Sean McGuigan, 41, in the dock.

The two men, who are both from London, deny blackmailing the royal with recordings that suggested he performed a gay sex act.

The pair have been accused of making "an unwarranted demand with menaces" for £50,000.

Recalling his conversation with the Royal Family member, Witness C said: "He has people whom he will do anything to protect so whatever it takes to protect, just do it."

The allegations were based on eight hours of video and audio recordings of an employee, known as D, in which he made a number of claims about the royal and other members of his family.

The employee is also seen taking drugs.

I said 'well for this price the material must be dynamite' Witness C

In court, Witness C referred to the would-be blackmailers as "bizarre people" and thought the plot may have been cooked up in a "feud between two boyfriends".

"It was a revenge between lovers in a love story that went wrong," he told the jury.

He told the court it was "common knowledge" that D had been Strachan's long-term boyfriend, correcting a previous statement in which he named Mr McGuigan as D's lover.

However, Jerome Lynch QC, representing Mr Strachan, denied that his client was D's lover.

Witness C told the Old Bailey that last summer he received telephone calls from the would-be blackmailers saying they had an offer of between £75,000 to £100,000 for the story.

'No concern'

"I said 'well for this price the material must be dynamite'," the witness told the court.

He claimed that they asked for £50,000 from the royal in a tone that was sometimes aggressive, but polite.

Witness C also denied offering them the sum they had demanded.

The witness said he has never seen the tapes regarding A and has always had "no concern" about their content because "I know it to be false".

Mr Strachan is currently based in Fulham, west London, although he is originally from Aberdeen, in Scotland.

Mr McGuigan is from Battersea, south London.

The trial has been adjourned until Monday.