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Facebook trolls, predator and prisoner: The criminals who were sent down for blackmail as cases soar in Greater Manchester
31.01.2022 - 09:42 / manchestereveningnews.co.uk
Over the last year, blackmail offences have soared in Greater Manchester.
Greater Manchester Police have recorded a total of 834 cases in the year ending June 2021.
Over the same period 10 years earlier, officers recorded just 85 offences - by the year ending June 2017 that figure had climbed to 384 - which is still less than half as many as the most recent figures.
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But it has proved tough for police to bring offenders to justice for crimes.
Of blackmail cases recorded in the year ending June 2021, only 12 investigations by Greater Manchester Police (1.4%) have concluded with a suspect being charged or summonsed, and in more than nine out of 10 cases (91.0%) the offender got off scot-free.
In 48.7% of those crimes, that was because the investigation ended with no suspect being identified.
Here the Manchester Evening News has looked back on recent cases of blackmail in the Greater Manchester area.
Gary Galvin and Kelly Marshall
Gary Galvin created as many as ten fake Facebook profiles to torment two brothers, threatening them with murder and vowing to harm their family members if they did not pay ransoms.
His girlfriend Kelly Marshall, 27, allowed her Facebook account to be used in the blackmail plot.
The brothers were left 'terrified' and sold personal belongings and took out loans to pay Galvin, who sent a slew of vile messages over a ten month period.
They paid him 90 instalments totalling over £12,000, Minshull Street Crown Court heard, leaving them 'financially ruined'.
In one instance, Gavin pretended to be a woman and sent them a message saying: ''If you don’t pay up you will get visited through the door.''
Manchester's courts are some
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