UK blackmail lawyer
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Specialist UK blackmail lawyer
If you live overseas and are facing blackmail by someone who lives in the UK, you should consider consulting with a specialist UK blackmail lawyer
Jurisdiction in blackmail cases
My blackmailer lives in the UK
How quickly can a UK blackmail lawyer stop the blackmail
Is it illegal to blackmail someone in the UK
What should I do if I am being blackmailed from the UK
How to find a blackmail solicitor in the UK
Blackmail law in the UK
UK blackmail law is complex. This is because there are significant differences between criminal blackmail and civil blackmail.
Criminal blackmail in the UK
In the UK, criminal blackmail is often handled by the police, but in rare cases, you can have your own UK lawyer bring criminal charges against your blackmailer. If you are a victim of blackmail and you live outside of the UK, you will need to either file a complaint with the UK police for blackmail, which you can do online or by contacting Interpol in your own state to liaise with the police in the UK on your behalf.
Taking up criminal blackmail with the police, particularly if you live outside of the UK, could be time consuming and extremely frustrating. If your matter is urgent, for example, if your blackmailer has given you a deadline before they carry out their threat, you might want to consider stopping them through legal proceedings in the civil court rather than in the criminal court where your lawyer will have control over the proceedings, their speed and often their outcome.
Civil blackmail in the UK
In the UK, civil blackmail law falls mostly under the realm of the law of harassment. Unlike criminal blackmail, when it comes to civil law blackmail, there is no specific civil law against blackmail, not in the same way that such law exists in the criminal justice system. Civil law blackmail in the UK can provide you with instant relief, which in most cases is not possible under criminal blackmail.
This means, that within hours, or days in some cases, you could be granted a blackmail injunction against your blackmailer and have the injunction served on your blackmail in person, by email or via WhatsApp or a text message, together with a penal notice. A penal notice means that if your blackmailer breaks the injunction in any way, directly or indirectly, he or she could be sent to prison for the breach.
Jurisdiction in blackmail cases
In international blackmail cases, if you live outside of the UK and your blackmailer lives in the UK, there is a potential for conflict of jurisdictions to exist, which could leave you in a bit of a limbo. Remember, civil blackmail in the UK, where you have your own lawyer looking after you, falls under the realms of the law of harassment. Under UK civil law, and as a general rule, in cases involving multi-jurisdiction harassment, the wronging is considered to be taking place where the victim is domiciled. For this reason, on the face of it, if you are a victim of blackmail harassment, the wrongdoing is considered to be committed outside of the UK, regardless of the fact that the blackmailer is domiciled in the UK.
In some countries, the wrongdoing of harassment is considered to occur where the offender is domiciled. This, of course, could create a situation where victims of harassment might fall between two stools and find themselves unable to bring legal action to stop the blackmail in their own jurisdiction too. A good UK blackmail lawyer will be able to advise you, or your attorney, on how this conflict of jurisdictions could be overcome in order to bring a swift end to a multi-jurisdictional blackmail situation.
My blackmailer lives in the UK
Despite the potential jurisdictional lacuna that was described above, an experienced UK blackmail lawyer should be able to take swift action to protect you from your UK located blackmailer. There are ways around the jurisdiction issue, which have already been tested and approved by the High Court. In a nutshell, if your blackmailer lives in the UK and you, the victim of blackmail live in another country, your UK blackmail lawyer can still apply for an injunction in the UK High Court by submitting that provided that blackmail is actionable in your own jurisdiction, the UK court should accept jurisdiction for the matter as well by applying to the doctrine of comparative law.
In other words, it is sufficient for the claimant to plead and rely on the presumption that the laws of foreign countries are the same as domestic UK law. Furthermore, blackmail often involves other wrongdoings such as the misuse of private information and breach of data, and those additional wrongdoings are often considered to be committed in the UK, where the offender is located, and therefore are fit for the jurisdiction of the UK courts.
How quickly can a UK blackmail lawyer stop the blackmail
A UK lawyer who is experienced in handling multijurisdictional blackmail cases, can, in the right circumstances, obtain an injunction against the blackmailer within hours of being instructed. It is possible to obtain an emergency injunction at nearly all hours of the day and night, provided the injunction applied for is truly urgent.
Is it illegal to blackmail someone in the UK
Yes. It is illegal to blackmail someone in the UK. Blackmail is a criminal offence under the Theft Act 1968. Blackmail is also a civil wrongdoing under the Protection from Harassment Act 1997 and as such, you might be entitled to an injunction against your blackmailer. Read more about how do you respond to blackmail.
What should I do if I am being blackmailed from the UK
If you are being blackmailed from the UK, you may either report the blackmail to the police or instruct a local UK blackmail lawyer to act on your behalf and apply for an emergency injunction against the blackmailer. The UK lawyer will also arrange for the service of the blackmail injunction on the blackmailer and will remain a point of contact for you throughout the proceedings.
How to find a blackmail solicitor in the UK
In the UK, the term solicitor described a fully licensed lawyer who is fully qualified and is registered with the Law Society and the SRA, who are the regulators of the legal profession. The term lawyer, on the other hand, might describe nearly anyone who works in a law firm, even if the individual is a paralegal, or a trainee. If you search for a blackmail solicitor in the UK, you also need to be aware that most solicitors who handle blackmail in the UK are criminal defence solicitors.
There are much fewer solicitors who are experienced in obtaining civil injunctions against blackmail. There is a significant difference between criminal blackmail and civil blackmail. Most criminal blackmail solicitors have little experience in representing clients in civil blackmail as they mostly act for offenders who are arrested for blackmail. If you are a victim of blackmail, you will need to hire a solicitor who specialises in civil law blackmail to represent you and to apply for an injunction on your behalf.
Are you a victim of blackmail? Time might be of the essence. Call us now for legal advice on +44 207 183 4123 or send a request and we will contact you as soon as possible.
