Former magistrate Robert Dell jailed for blackmail

A former magistrate and "pillar of society" was starting a seven-year jail sentence today for blackmailing a man for thousands of pounds to pay a drugs debt.

Well-known businessman Robert John Dell was once hailed as a have-a-go hero for protecting a lone policeman during a mass street brawl in West Bromwich. But the father-of-two descended into a life of crime.

The 42-year-old turned to crime after amassing a large debt to drug dealers that built up due to his cocaine habit, Wolverhampton Crown Court was told.

He targeted David Tarbuck in March this year, telling him his family would be murdered unless he paid more than £25,000.

Dell, a magistrate at Sutton Coldfield's court, claimed he was being put up to the blackmail by a group of Irish men – and said they believed associates of Tarbuck's had stolen a £200,000 haul of cocaine.

Mr Tarbuck, who insisted he knew nothing of Dell's claims and is not known to the defendant, was then told: "what is more important, money or your family?"