Blackmailer who demanded money from Wigan cat lovers in return for his or her pets is jailed

Woolveridge, 24, lied and instructed them he had their animals. He then demanded money be paid into numerous financial institution accounts in return for them getting the pets again, typically threatening he would kill the animals if he didn’t get what he needed.

Some victims paid money, with Woolveridge even laughing at one pet proprietor after she had despatched him £1,000, saying: “Now I can buy a new car.”

Officers launched Operation Façade after it turned obvious that many stories throughout the nation featured sturdy similarities – and seemed to be linked to Cumbria.

It led to the arrest of Woolveridge, who admitted 9 counts of blackmail after going through the case put collectively by detectives and prosecutors.

He additionally requested for 73 different related offences to be considered when he appeared at Preston Crown Court.

Recorder Blakey, presiding, acknowledged: “You preyed on the vulnerability of the owners of these animals. You didn’t care one jot about their feelings. You took advantage of their feelings and exacerbated their hurt. You knew they were easy targets and that they would pay you”.

Woolveridge, beforehand of Melbourne Street, Barrow In Furness, Cumbria, was sentenced on Thursday (October 26) to a jail time period of three years and eight months.

Examples of Woolveridge’s offences included: Telling a sufferer that he had her misplaced canine and stating he would kill it if she didn’t pay £1,000;

Telling one other proprietor he would use his feminine canine for breeding and he would by no means see his pet once more.

Claiming to have one sufferer’s canine that had gone lacking and threatening to shoot the pet if the proprietor put the telephone down and didn’t pay £1,000;

Woolveridge was caught after evaluation of telephone proof linked him to the instances.

Emma Taylor, 39, from Swinley, is amongst those that are believed to have been focused by Woolveridge, after her Bengal-cross cat Ziggy went lacking earlier this 12 months.

She mentioned on the time: “It’s been gut-wrenching for us. There have been no sightings, he’s just vanished off the face of the Earth.

“I went on social media to put out an appeal for information and then I realised that other cats had gone missing just streets away from where we are. We believe he’s been stolen because he’s part pedigree.

“The gang rang me twice for money. The first time, we received a phone call to say that this guy has got my cat and he was fine. Then his manner changed and he became quite aggressive, saying ‘If you want to see him, we want some money’. He wanted £500 or said ‘We’ll get rid of your cat’.

“After another week we got a second call and they now said they wanted £1,000. One of them came on and said they knew where we lived and they’ll come back and burn our house down. This made it a more serious incident. It’s terrifying.”

Detective Inspector Amanda Sykes, of the pressure’s main incident staff, spoke after the sentencing.

She mentioned: “Woolveridge’s victims were already extremely distressed at the loss of their much loved pets, when he cruelly chose to prey on them.

“He then made this ordeal even more traumatic by firstly raising their hopes that their pet would be returned, then frightening them into believing he would harm their pets if he did not get money.

“They would then have their hopes dashed and their money taken when they realised this was all a lie.

“I would like to thank the victims of these dreadful crimes for coming forward and supporting this investigation. Although we know they will always suffer from the loss of their pets, we truly hope that seeing Woolveridge appear in court will offer some sense of justice.”

She added: “Operation Façade has been a very complex investigation, with over 200 victims to date identified from across the whole of the United Kingdom. The investigation is continuing, and we will pursue anyone who has been involved in these blackmail offences or handling the money taken from the victims.

“While we totally understand why people would offer money to get back a much-loved pet, we would like to take this opportunity to offer the following advice.

“We would urge people who have lost pets not to send reward money without doing extensive checks that the claim is legitimate – and the pet has been found by that person.

“Checks could involve conducting a video call with the person to see your pet with them – or asking for new photos of your pet; if you do this please check carefully to make sure any photo is genuine.

“If you have concerns that the person who has contacted you may be acting fraudulently, then please do not give them any money or personal information and contact the police.”

Woolveridge was additionally sentenced yesterday for a separate incident which occurred in Barrow on February 3 2023.

The court docket heard how Woolveridge stole a wheelchair, price £2000, which belonged to a vulnerable young woman and broken it so badly her household needed to change it.