Sources have told us convicted criminal Claire has continued a campaign of harassment involving repeated phone calls and abusive voicemail messages which have caused great distress.
Claire Carruthers appeared in court on Thursday accused of misusing a public communication network.
From the Moss Road in Ballygowan, she is charged that, on November 28 last year, she engaged in the “persistent improper use of a telecommunication network… for the purpose of causing annoyance, inconvenience or needless anxiety to another”.
Standing in the dock of Newtownards Magistrates’ Court, 36-year-old Carruthers confirmed she understood the single charge against her.
None of the facts giving rise to the charge were opened in court, but a police officer gave evidence that she believed she could connect Carruthers to the charge.
The Sunday World can reveal the alleged victim is her ex-husband Chris Carruthers, the father of her three children.
Sources have told us convicted criminal Claire has continued a campaign of harassment involving repeated phone calls and abusive voicemail messages which have caused great distress.
Claire Carruthers pleaded guilty to extorting the cash from a man she says she had been having a relationship with for several months.
It’s also understood she has been driving to her ex-husband’s home and “shouting abuse” at the property before speeding off.
Defence counsel Conan Rea confirmed on Thursday “the matter is likely to be contested” and, freeing the self-confessed extortionist on her own bail of £300, District Judge Mark Hamill barred her from contacting the alleged victim, a condition he said “is a major factor of bail”.
Carruthers is due back in court on the misuse of a phone charge next month.
Last November, Carruthers entered a guilty plea to a charge of blackmail in that between June 24 and November 8 2022, she made an unwarranted demand of £4,000 “with menaces” from a male victim.
Last month we revealed how the carpet cleaner at the centre of the plot, who Carruthers photographed while naked and asleep and used the images to extort £2,000 from him, believed if a man had done it to a woman, he’d be behind bars.
He spoke to us after Carruthers had just walked free from Downpatrick Crown Court with an enhanced combination order including a probation order and community service for extorting thousands of pounds from him after she told him she would reveal naked pics of him and would tell his wife about their affair.
Judge Geoffrey Miller also made a compensation order in the sum of £2,000 and imposed a two-year restraining order barring Carruthers from contacting the victim or his family.
The judge said it was clear that Carruthers was “falling” for her married lover who had “misled her about his own relationship with his wife”.
But the victim described the claims as “complete bulls**t” because he says Carruthers knew exactly the state of his relationship with his wife.
Judge Miller told Carruthers, during sentencing, while there was “no question” her offences deserved a prison sentence, given her plea and the background facts “as a direct alternative to immediate custody”, he was willing to offer her an enhanced combination order.
The victim told the Sunday World: “I was there in court to look her in the eye and see justice done, but she has fooled the whole court, it’s just so frustrating.
“Claire knew I was married and had no intentions of leaving my wife. She wasn’t falling for me, she’s just a complete head-melter who decided she could make easy money from me.”
The victim revealed how Carruthers initiated sexual flirting when she contacted his carpet cleaning business account, claiming she’d spilled fake tan over her carpet and asked what could she do to fix it until he was able to get there.
“She said she’d send me a photo,” he explained.
“This picture dropped of her sitting on her bedroom floor in sexy underwear in front of the mirror and there was this tiny speck of fake tan on the carpet.”
He says things turned nasty after he told her they had to end their ‘fling’ because he didn’t want to lose his wife.
The court was told how the victim was on holiday in Tenerife when he began receiving messages from an Instagram account demanding to know, “do you f*** other people’s wives as part of your service or is that extra?”
When confronted by the Sunday World last December, she said she was “completely sorry” and “embarrassed” by her shocking criminal behaviour, — but she was “fed-up of being f**ked over by men”.
