A cash-strapped divorcee told his ex-wife she would never work again through embarrassment as he threatened to make public revenge porn naked photos of her, a court heard today (Tuesday).

Gerald McCarthy, of Macefield Gardens in Crowthorne, posted the pictures to his former wife Amanda Mortimer to get her to falsely tell a court she no longer needed child maintenance payments from him, following their acrimonious divorce, the court was told.

The couple had been together for around 20 years and had three children but the marriage broke down in acrimonious circumstances in 2008.

As part of the divorce settlement 51-year-old McCarthy was ordered to pay £75 a week in child maintenance to Mrs Mortimer, who has since remarried, but he quickly fell into arrears. 

To try to get her to ask the court to cancel the demand for payment McCarthy said he would make public the image taken from the private video if she did not agree to state the pair had reached an out-of-court settlement, the jury was told.

Mrs Mortimer claimed McCarthy had threatened her before with the image, which he said he had produced as "insurance", but on previous occasions it had shown just her top half.

The image sent to her on November 18, 2013, was much more explicit, the court was told.

She told the court that when she was sent the provocative photo on a previous occasion it came with a note saying, "I'll plaster the video everywhere. You'll never work again, you'll be too embarrassed."

McCarthy is on trial for the offences alleged to have been committed in 2013 and denies two counts of blackmail.

The jury heard that the photo was sent to Mrs Mortimer disguised as a birthday card. She told the court she instinctively knew it was from McCarthy and opened it the day it arrived rather than waiting to open it with the rest of her birthday cards the following day in front of her children.

As well as the photo there was a handwritten note Patrick Dennis, prosecuting, told the court.

It was not disputed that the note was in McCarthy's handwriting.

 

Mr Dennis said it read: "Don't think you will ever be able to sell my house for anything like the market value. You've been robbing me every month for maintenance.

"This shows how greedy you are.

"Unless you contact the court and say 'I have paid you in full in an out of court settlement', I'll make it my mission to cause you so many problems if you try to ever sell my old house."

Mr Dennis said one sale of the house fell through after McCarthy contacted the estate agent handling the sale and said there were problems with it.

The would-be buyers got cold feet and pulled out, but a full structural survey that was subsequently carried out showed there was nothing wrong with the property.

Mr Dennis said of Mrs Mortimer's feelings at seeing the letter and the photo: "It left her distressed. She believed he was capable of carrying out these threats."

As a result of receiving the material Mrs Mortimer had to give a statement to police on her birthday, the court was told.

CCTV footage taken from cameras Mrs Mortimer had installed at her new home showed McCarthy delivering the note himself in person, the court heard.

Nadeem Holland, defending, challenged Mrs Mortimer's story and claimed she had created the picture and printed out words herself in a bid to pretend the blackmail had taken place.

She denied this and claimed McCarthy had sent the envelope with the picture and note inside to blackmail her on the eve of her birthday.

When asked why she did not immediately pick up the note she recognised as from her ex-partner she said: "I did not see it until 11pm at night when I had come home from the gym and was looking at the cards.

"As soon as I saw the card and I saw the Sellotape on the back of the envelope I immediately recognised it as something similar to letters he had sent before.

"I knew something was amiss because when I picked it up I could feel there was more than just a card in there so I opened it straightaway.

When challenged that she had invented the pictures and blackmail threats, Mrs McCarthy responded: "The first time in 2008 a letter arrived at the door and I opened it as my child sat there with me eating breakfast at the table, the second time in November 2013 I was with my husband.

"I gave the images to the police who kept them and an investigation was carried out but he had wiped his computer so they couldn't find any evidence he had sent the pictures."

Mr Holland informed her that the police had no record of the claims she made in 2008, after the alleged first picture was sent to her.

Her husband Keith Mortimer, an operations sales manager for a catering and butchers' business, was asked about his wife's reaction when she saw the letter.

He said: "When she opened the letter she was very nervous and distraught because of the timing, it was sent the day before her birthday.  She didn't cry but was angry at the timing and we were thinking 'why does this keep happening?'

"She took it off me as she didn't want me to see it and then after looking at it all, that's when we decided to call the police."

Mr Dennis said he denied sending the photo as he is "computer illiterate" and would not have been able to produce the typed words included on the same page, accusing his former wife of fabricating it herself.

He denies a second charge because the indictment reads that he made "unwarranted" demands to stop the child maintenance payments - McCarthy claims his demands are warranted, Mr Dennis told the jury.

The trial, at Reading Crown Court, continues.