Shock and disbelief have rippled across South Yorkshire and beyond after a serving police officer admitted to blackmailing a man she herself had arrested, in a case described by prosecutors and police leadership as a grave breach of public trust. PC Marie Thompson, 29, pleaded guilty at Leeds Crown Court on September 4, 2025, to charges of blackmail and perverting the course of justice, following a months-long investigation that exposed a disturbing abuse of power within the ranks of South Yorkshire Police.
According to the BBC, Thompson was the lead investigator in a sensitive case involving a man suspected of possessing indecent images of children. She arrested and interviewed the suspect in October 2022, and he was subsequently released under investigation, pending further examination of his digital devices. But what came next would upend the expectations of both the public and her colleagues regarding the integrity of law enforcement.
In January 2023, the man received an anonymous email from a ProtonMail address, purportedly sent by a vigilante group calling themselves “Paedophile Hunters.” The message demanded that £3,500 be paid into a specified bank account, with the chilling assurance that the payment would “ensure that information remains between you and us.” The email included an account number and sort code, making the threat explicit and the demand unmistakable, as reported by The Yorkshire Post and Daily Mail.
Later that same day, the man’s partner received a text message, this time warning that a reply to the email was required by the end of the day. The pressure was mounting, but the man, instead of complying, reported the correspondence to South Yorkshire Police using the force’s 101 non-emergency service. Thompson, still in her official capacity as the investigating officer, told the man she would look into the matter. However, she then falsely recorded in the official police report that he did not wish to pursue a complaint, effectively closing the investigation into the blackmail attempt, according to the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS).
Six weeks later, Thompson lied again to the suspect, this time assuring him that the police had been unable to trace the sender of the emails and text messages. All the while, she was the very person behind the threats, leveraging her privileged access to the case and the suspect’s vulnerability for personal gain.
Thompson’s actions might have remained hidden, but in March 2023, she was suspended from South Yorkshire Police for unrelated matters. When another officer took over the investigation into the indecent images, they were informed about the reported blackmail. It was then that the web of deceit began to unravel. Forensic examination revealed that the text message had been sent from Thompson’s personal mobile phone. Further scrutiny of her laptop uncovered email fragments that matched the heading of the blackmail message, although the full contents and recipient address could not be recovered, as detailed by the CPS and reported by multiple outlets.
As the internal investigation deepened, it became apparent that Thompson was in significant debt due to gambling, a detail that may have provided a motive for her actions. The BBC reported that she was arrested in October 2023 and suspended from her duties, pending the outcome of the criminal proceedings. Throughout the process, she remained suspended from the force.
At her plea hearing on September 4, 2025, Thompson admitted to both blackmail and perverting the course of justice. She was granted bail, with sentencing scheduled for October 30, 2025, at Leeds Crown Court. The prosecution was led by the CPS’s Special Crime Division, following an investigation by South Yorkshire Police’s professional standards department.
The reaction from both the CPS and police leadership has been one of unequivocal condemnation. Malcolm McHaffie, head of the CPS Special Crime Division, said in a statement quoted widely across the media: “Pc Marie Thompson tried to abuse her position as the investigating police officer in this case for financial gain. To try and turn an investigation of a suspect into a chance to blackmail them out of money is disgraceful, and then to falsify police reports to cover her tracks is reprehensible. The fact that blackmail is a serious crime, no matter who the victim is or what they have done, should have been obvious to anyone, especially a police officer. Her conduct amounted to a serious abuse of the trust which we rightly have in anyone in public office to perform their duties.”
Detective Superintendent James Axe, head of South Yorkshire Police’s Professional Standards Department, echoed these sentiments, telling BBC and The Yorkshire Post: “Thompson’s actions were wholly inexcusable. Her deceitful offending is shameful and her former colleagues here in South Yorkshire Police are as horrified by these crimes as members of the public will be. Police officers are rightly held to higher standards than members of the public. We are determined to remain open and transparent about the professional standards of our workforce, even when this means telling the public about serious criminality such as this.”
The case has sent shockwaves through the community, not only for the nature of the original criminal investigation but because the person entrusted to uphold the law in such sensitive matters exploited her position for personal enrichment. The fact that the victim was himself under suspicion for a serious offense did not, in the eyes of the CPS and police, lessen the gravity of the crime committed against him. As McHaffie observed, “blackmail is a serious crime, no matter who the victim is or what they have done.”
This case has also reignited broader concerns about the standards of conduct within police forces across the UK. While rare, instances of officers abusing their authority can have far-reaching consequences, eroding public trust and casting a shadow over the hard work of thousands of honest officers. South Yorkshire Police, for its part, has stated its commitment to transparency and accountability, with Detective Superintendent Axe emphasizing the need to “remain open and transparent about the professional standards of our workforce.”
For now, PC Marie Thompson awaits sentencing, her career in ruins and her actions serving as a stark reminder of the importance of integrity in public service. The community, her colleagues, and the wider public will be watching closely as the court prepares to decide her fate at the end of October.
The events surrounding this case underscore the vital importance of vigilance, oversight, and ethical standards within law enforcement. Trust, once broken, is hard to restore, but the swift and public prosecution of wrongdoing is a crucial step in that direction.
