A lodger, accused of terrorising his landlady with violent threats against her family to blackmail her out of £2,700, has been acquitted after a three day trial.
Luke John Ottaway, 48, of 26 Broomfield Road, Welwyn claimed her was an ex-jailbird vigilante, who was pursued by gangsters for debts and would use violence himself, the court heard.
He pleaded not guilty to one count of making an unwarranted demand for money, with menaces, from the grandmother at her home in Ravenscar Road, Surbiton, south-west London.
She told Kingston-upon-Thames Crown Court Ottaway claimed he had cancer and had split from his demanding wife when she rented him a £75 a week room at her home from June 7 to July 21, last year.
However, during the trial the jury heard the complainant had considered dropping the charge at one point.
Ottaway maintained his innocence from the start of the investigation.
Ottaway maintained his innocence from the start of the investigation.
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