Muslim Jailed for Preying on Vulnerable Man

From This is Nottingham:

A JUDGE labelled a blackmailer who stole £7,000 from a man with learning difficulties a "parasite" as he sentenced him.

Kessar Mughal took the monthly £400 wage from 21-year-old Lee Yorke and spent it on clothes and cannabis.

Mr Yorke became depressed, got behind with his rent and was eventually sacked.

Nottingham Crown Court heard Mughal had a desperate need to appear "big".

Mr Yorke, who worked at McDonalds in West Bridgford, was described as "socially disadvantaged, of gentle nature and a vulnerable young man".

Mughal, 25, of Skipton Circus, Sneinton, initially befriended him as he lived in the same street as Mr Yorke's mother.

But in February, 2006, Mughal pulled up alongside Mr Yorke, bundled him into a car and asked him for his bank details and pin number.

Peter Walmsley, prosecuting, said Mr Yorke was told there was going to be a bank scam, money would be put in his account and split.

"Later the defendant told him the scam had gone wrong and he owed the defendant some money. The defendant collected Mr Yorke from his home, took him to work at McDonalds and sometimes took him to a bank machine and he was compelled to hand over quantities of cash.

"At some stage the defendant set him up, it seems, in some flat so he knew where he was and he had the keys to the flat when arrested."

Mughal pleaded guilty to six specimen counts of blackmail between May, 2006, and March, 2007, and failing to turn up at court.

He went on the run and was only arrested on June 22.

Judge Jonathan Teare sentenced him to four years and eight months.

"You befriended Lee Yorke, and he was a vulnerable, gentle young man with learning difficulties.

"Then, for nearly a year, you treated him in the most despicable way. You were a parasite upon him. You sucked from him all his money and, as one can see from the papers, his life.

"He gave up his wages every month and you spent that on clothing and cannabis. You didn't care how he lived."

Mitigating, Houzia Rawat said Mughal was a carer for his parents.

His mum died from an accidental overdose of painkillers on March 21, last year.

"He has this desperate need to appear big. He was effectively a bully."