'Callous' graphic designer terrorised women and blackmailed victim to send sexual photos
A graphic designer has been jailed for more than five years for terrorising six women in an online abuse campaign.
Shaquille Williams blackmailed one woman by threatening to send private sexual photographs of her to family and friends.
The 26-year-old threatened to send the images unless she supplied more, which he tried to direct, the National Crime Agency (NCA) said.
The graphic designer had received the woman's details from prolific blackmailer and paedophile Abdul Hasib Elahi from Birmingham.
Elahi, of Sparkhill in Birmingham, is currently awaiting sentencing after admitting 158 online offences in a separate NCA investigation.
Elahi masqueraded as a businessman or stockbroker on sugar daddy websites and conned victims into sending him sexual images of themselves.
He then blackmailed them into filming themselves performing increasingly degrading acts and sending him the footage. Elahi posted the footage online, where Williams acquired some of it.
Williams was jailed for five years and three months on Wednesday at Nottingham Crown Court after being convicted at a trial of blackmailing the victim between January 10, 2019 and May 10, 2019.
The defendant, from Hartness Road in Clifton. Nottingham, was also convicted of three counts of harassing three women and putting them in fear of violence between April 1, 2019, and May 21, 2019, and convicted of two counts of sending grossly offensive messages to two other men.
Using various social media accounts, university graduate Williams sent the women horrendous abuse including pictures of acid attack victims. One victim received messages including the name of her home town, a picture of hydrochloric acid and a message featuring her road name.
NCA Senior Investigating Officer Andy Peach said: "Williams inflicted extreme terror on these victims – they have been exceptionally brave in coming forward to ensure he faced justice and went to jail.
"Williams is a coward and a twisted, callous, sexual deviant. Some of his crimes were made possible because of Abdul Elahi whose sadistic depravity and scale of offending horrified the investigative team. There are a series of other inquiries into Elahi’s associates."
Elahi will be sentenced at Birmingham Crown Court on a date yet to be confirmed.
