POLICE who were on the trail of blackmailers caught one of them when he tried to pick up a bag containing �11,000, a court was told.
Carl Grocock was waiting for the cash to be dropped off at a bus stop in Bulwell which was marked with red and white tape, Nottingham Crown Court was told.
But it was police who were actually delivering the money – and Grocock was arrested.
Officers had agreed to drop off the cash after being alerted by a businessman who said he had been subjected to a four-month blackmail campaign.
The victim, a pub owner and landlord from Loughborough, had been texted by Gary Penwarden, 48, and told he had to pay �33,000 which was supposedly owed to Penwarden's mother. The message, sent on August 7, 2009, said: ''I'll destroy everything that you have''.
The victim reported it to police and told them that he did not know the man, his mother, or have any sizeable debts with anyone.
However, within days a fire broke out at one of his unoccupied properties in Loughborough, causing �15,000 damage, and a shot was fired through the window of his pub. Then a window at his home was shot at in November, 2009.
After this incident, the victim decided to sell a car in order to make a payment to Penwarden, said Justin Wigoder, prosecuting.
But it was Leicestershire Police who dropped off the cash by a bus stop in Low Wood Road, Bulwell, on December 1, 2009.
Detective Constable Craig Murrell told the court he drove past a white van belonging to Penwarden which was parked outside High Wood Cemetery, in Bulwell, on the way to the drop-off point. When he got to the bus stop, Grocock was one of two men stood next to it.
The officer said: "I noticed the defendant was pacing back and forth, and when I exited my vehicle and walked towards [the bus stop], he was looking in my direction."
After dropping the bag, Det Con Murrell said: "I saw the defendant crouch down and pick up the bag before immediately sprinting off through the hedgerow behind the lamppost."
Police traced Grocock back to his home in Moss Close, Arnold, where the white van belonging to Penwarden was seen in the driveway.
Grocock then left in his car, before Penwarden was seen carrying a plastic bag and then driving away in the van back to his home in Arnside Road, Leen Valley.
Under police interview, Grocock, 36, said he had been paid �500 to pick up a bag from a bus stop, which he had been told was money for a car. Giving evidence in court, he said he didn't know the victim or his family and had no involvement with the blackmail plot.
He told the court he had known of Penwarden for a number of years, as they had both grown up on the Bestwood Estate, but that they had only been friends since November 2009.
He told the court he had lied at his first police interview about who had dropped him off at the pick-up point, in order to protect Penwarden.
When questioned why by James Beck, defending, he said: "Because where I come from I didn't want to be labelled a grass."
Mr Wigoder said records showed there were 130 phone calls and text messages sent between Grocock and Penwarden between November 1 and December 1, 2009, which he said revealed they were planning the blackmail together.
Grocock has pleaded not guilty to blackmail. His trial continues at Nottingham Crown Court on Monday.
Penwarden pleaded guilty to blackmail at an earlier hearing. He admitted phoning and sending texts to the victim between August 7 and December 1, 2009. He will be sentenced once Grocock's trial has finished.
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