Detectives from the PSNI’s Organised Crime Unit have welcomed the sentencings handed down to three men at Newry Court following an investigation into threats made whilst purporting to be from INLA in an attempt to extort a significant sum of money from a man in Strabane in 2019.
48 year old John Curry, and Thomas Brown, aged 49, were sentenced to 18 months, serving 9 months in prison and 9 months on licence, having pleaded guilty to blackmail. Martin McElroy, aged 52, was sentenced to 12 months imprisonment suspended for three years having pleaded guilty to blackmail.
Detective Inspector Ray Phelan said the threats caused unimaginable distress to the victim and his family.
He added police were grateful to colleagues in An Garda Síochána for their assistance in this investigation.
