2007 royal blackmail plot

The 2007 royal blackmail plot was a UK scandal in which two men attempted to blackmail a relation of the British Royal Family. The relative of the royal family was alleged to have been involved in activities involving drug taking, and performing sexual activity on a male aide.^[1]

Buckingham Palace refused to comment on the situation after The Sunday Times reported the story on 28 October 2007.^[2][3] A spokesperson for the palace only stated that it was a police matter and that Scotland Yard was investigating.^[3]

The two defendants in the case were named as Ian Strachan (real name Paul Aðalsteinsson) ^[4]) and Sean McGuigan. McGuigan, a recovering alcoholic, had a string of previous criminal convictions and originally hailed from Ireland with republican connections. He was previously released from prison under the Good Friday Agreement in 1998.^[5][6] Aðalsteinsson held an Icelandic passport.^[7] Both men were arrested on 11 September 2007 charged under the Theft Act 1968 and was held in custody in Belmarsh Prison.^[8] They first applied for bail on 2 November, but this was refused.^[8] An appeal was also turned down on 8 December.^[8] They pleaded not guilty at the pre-trial hearing on 20 December 2007; the trial began on 14 April 2008.^[9]

The two men were convicted on 2 May 2008. Each was sentenced to a period of five years.^[10] It was the first case of royal blackmail for more than a century, but the expensive trial was described as an "overreaction".^[6]

The trial was branded a "a joke" and "a farce". Ronald Thwaites QC, described the evidence against the defendants as "insubstantial, insignificant, and incomplete," saying that, "you cannot convict people on evidence as poor as this.".^[11] Police had obtained £50,000 in cash from public funds which was being held nearby by a "money man" to "flash" at the men should they make a demand for it, a demand which apparently never came, the court was told. The pair were arrested in a sting operation at a London hotel by undercover police officers from the Metropolitan police's counter-terrorism unit^[6]

Strachan - real name Paul Aðalsteinsson who was Icelandic^[7] - also used the names Paul Stein, Charles Goldstein ^[4] maintained his innocence and was appealing the conviction until he was found dead at his flat in South Kensington, West London ^[12] on Christmas Eve in 2016 as reported by The Sun on 2 March 2017.^[13]

A public inquest^[4] into Aðalsteinsson's death on 30 June 2017 heard he became a recreational drug user, developed an alcohol dependency issue and latterly became addicted to prescription drugs due to the amputation of a leg. He was found collapsed on Christmas Eve 2016 after suffering respiratory failure brought on by multi-drug poisoning.^{[4] [12]} The whereabouts of the other defendant in the case, Sean McGuigan, is not known.

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