Tamara Ecclestone

Tamara Ecclestone’s former fiance from Camden Town jailed for blackmail

Josh Pettitt Friday, March 1, 2013
3:50 PM

Tamara Ecclestone’s former fiancé from Camden Town was jailed for four years on Tuesday (September 26) for trying to blackmail the socialite out of £200,000.

Derek Rose, from Arlington Road, had threatened to reveal “intimate secrets” about the daughter of billionaire Formula One boss Bernie Ecclestone to the tabloid press.

The 33-year-old went out with Miss Ecclestone, now 28, in 2002 before he discovered she had cheated on him, Southwark Crown Court heard.

Rose sent his bullying demands in an email to the wealthy star’s agent, Dana Malmstrom, saying “one of the biggest tabloids” had made a “life-changing offer” for a kiss-and-tell story.

But in reality, no newspaper had approached him.

Sentencing, Judge Andrew Goymer said: “The email you sent on November 16 in which you threatened to reveal private details was not the product of a broken heart - all that was long in the past.

“It was nothing more than a cynical and greedy attempt to extract a large sum of money.

“Blackmail is always an unpleasant and vicious offence.

“It can properly be said to be one of the worst offences that does not involve physical violence because of the fear and insecurity that it produces.”

The email was sent at 1.20am on November 16, 2011 – the same day Miss Ecclestone starred in Billion Dollar Girl, a reality television programme exploring her life.

Rose, who changed his name by deed poll from Jonathan Ketterman in 2011, sold a lurid story about Miss Ecclestone’s private life to the Mail on Sunday for £10,000 in 2002.

Jakir Udin, a 20-year-old media studies student from Old Walsall Road in Birmingham, who had also been accused of blackmail was discharged yesterday after a jury failed to reach a verdict.

He denied blackmail, claiming he was acting under orders from Rose and is facing a retrial.

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