A detective blackmailed a punter he saw leaving a brothel, a court has heard. When the victim reported the ransom demand to the police his blackmailer, DC Gareth Suffling, was one of the officers put on the case.

Suffling, 35, was jailed for 18 months for demanding £1,000 from the married man, who he had photographed coming out of a prostitute's mobile home.

He was caught after his colleagues from Bedfordshire Police's Serious Organised Crime Unit noticed he was acting nervously while working on the case, looking at his mobile phone and drinking water excessively.

Prosecutor Angus Robertson told St Albans Crown Court it was discovered that Suffling had earlier made a Police National Computer inquiry into the victim's car registration number to obtain the victim's address.

"Suspicion fell on the defendant as dangerous driving inquiries would not normally be carried out by his unit," he said.

The court heard Suffling had visited the AdultWork website and contacted the prostitute to find out that she was working from a motor home parked near an industrial estate in Sedgewick Road, Luton on 16 March this year.

The victim, who cannot be named for legal reasons and was referred to as Mr A, visited the prostitute for 15 minutes that day.