Secretary's £200K Rape Blackmail Against Married Lover Ex-Boss

A vengeful secretary blackmailed her former boss and married lover by demanding £200,000 to drop a rape claim she made against him.

Dilrushi Mendis, 40, was cheating on her own husband with employer and wealthy businessman Nihal Seneviratne until he sacked and dumped her.

The Sri Lankan mother-of-one, of Manstone Road, Cricklewood received eight months imprisonment, suspended for two years, today.

"I pass a sentence on the basis you have used the criminal justice system to attempt to get a large some of money from your ex-lover," Blackfriars Crown Court Judge Peter Clarke QC told the first-time offender.

"There was obviously some bad blood between you and you demanded two hundred thousand pounds and it was linked to a rape allegation that would be withdrawn."

Mr.Seneviratne, who always denied the claim, was arrested and spent three months on police bail until eventually told there would be no charge.

Mendis was also originally charged with perverting the course of justice by making a malicious allegation of sexual assault, but this was dropped by the prosecution.

"There were matters where you were wronged and part of your motive was impure, it was revenge on a man you felt had betrayed you."

Mendis also sent sexually explicit "revenge porn" images to Mr. Seneviratne's friends and family and turned up near his house demanding to be seen when he was at home with his wife and daughter's on Valentine's Day.

Prosecutor Mr. Adam King told the court: "They met in 2008 when she began working for him. They were both married, but an on-off sexual relationship began and he helped her financially."

In September, 2013 Mr. Seneviratne ended her employment and the relationship after learning Mendis's husband was moving to the UK.

"She did not take it well and pestered him with phone calls and he felt she had somehow gained access to his email account because she knew about his restaurant plans one Valentine's.

"Later that evening in February, 2014 she telephoned Mr. Seneviratne, who was at home with his family, saying she was outside and demanded to be seen.

"He met her around the corner and agreed to see her the next day, but broke the date and Mendis phoned him hundreds of times.

"She sent him a text which read: 'If you do not come and see me I'll do something terrible to you.'

"She asked Mr. Seneviratne, knowing he was a wealthy man, for forty to fifty thousand pounds to open a hair salon."

Around this time Mendis reported Mr. Seneviratne to the police, claiming he struck her. "She admitted to him she lied to the police."

On the evening of March 2, 2014 she invited him to stay at her place and Mr. Seneviratne arrived with a friend of his, and still maintains they slept in a separate room.

However, Mendis told police the men arrived with alcohol and she had two or three drinks before Mr. Seneviratne entered her room later and raped her.

He was in his native Sri Lanka when the complaint was made and the same friend acted as a go-between, communicating Mendis would drop the case for £200,000.

He did not pay anything and was arrested on June 16, 2014 when he returned.

"She was not paid during her employment by this wealthy and successful businessman and was on benefits," said Miss Nerida Harford-Bell, defending.

"He did lead her to believe he would leave his wife and then live with her in Sri Lanka. That was a foolish dream.

"It was a demand for money so that she could be free.

"He had made threats to her family that he would make their lives difficult in Sri Lanka  and Mrs Mendis was told she was: 'One of many women in his life' and was a: 'Whore and prostitute'." 

Mendis pleaded guilty to one count of blackmail and the prosecution dropped a charge of perverting the course of justice.

She was also ordered to complete 80 hours community service work.