A WAITRESS who edited a video to make it sound like a policeman she met on a dating website was threatening to rape her has been jailed.
Teenager Georgia Harris used the doctored recording to try to blackmail the officer out of £250.
The nightclub waitress filmed the unsuspecting policeman after instigating a conversation with him in his car about a “hypothetical” sex attack scenario.
She was then said to have cropped the recording and sent him a six to eight second clip, in which he could only be heard saying 'I'd be raping you', with her replying 'I don't want you to rape me'.
A court heard Harris, who worked at Faces nightclub in Chelmsford, Essex, threatened she would go to police with the recording if the 22-year-old Met Police officer did not pay her £200.
Having also implied she was just 15 years old, Harris then sent him her bank details - and upped her demand to £250.
The policeman, who lives in Sevenoaks in Kent, was 'shocked and panicked' but spoke to colleagues and his boss before reporting the blackmail to Kent Police.
Harris, who lives with her mother in Chelmsford, Essex was arrested and later sent police a letter, addressed to her victim.
Apologising, she wrote: "I was not in my right mind. After all, who blackmails a police officer?"
Harris, now aged 20, admitted blackmail and was sentenced to eight months in a young offenders' institution.
Maidstone Crown Court in Kent heard that her victim had lent her money on previous occasions and took her on a shopping trip to buy clothes.
But in a statement he said he felt “trapped in a corner” and was being used for money.
The officer, who was not named in court, said: "She has always been talking about money and asking for money.
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Judge Jeremy Carey sentencing brunette Harris said he had to put her behind bars for the “premeditated, determined and unpleasant nature” of her behaviour.
He said: "The officer is to be commended for the measured way in which he has expressed the extent of the impact upon him.
"The reality is, as you well know, that he was particularly vulnerable because of his position as a serving police officer.
"In other words, the mere use of this material, misleading as it was, would have resulted, had it gone any further, in at least a suspension and an investigation."
Judge Carey said he accepted Harris's letter showed “an appropriate degree of recognition of the seriousness” of what she had done and some remorse.
But he added that despite her young age, the offence of blackmail warranted immediate custody to deter others.
"It is well understood and for good reason that blackmail offences are to be treated very seriously indeed in terms of penalty. Blackmail is a very nasty offence."
The video clip Harris sent to the officer was played in court.
Prosecutor Peter Forbes said Harris had doctored their full conversation so that it became ”intentionally embarrassing and, indeed, criminal” .
But, the defence maintained the content of the clip was all Harris had recorded.
The couple first met online in December 2015 and the officer took Harris and her friend out for dinner.
There was no further contact until March last year when Harris started texting him and they met up another two or three times.
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But Mr Forbes said Harris began to pester the officer about staying at his place but he refused and when he did not answer her texts, she began “reacting oddly”, telling him “I know where you live”.
The court was told the policeman did not understand why her tone had changed but continued to meet Harris, taking her for dinner and on a shopping trip.
It was in May last year as he was driving her home that Harris initiated a contrived conversation about rape and recorded the officer, said Mr Forbes.
"She began to ask, in her words, about hypothetical scenarios. She said 'What would you do if I told you I was 15 years old?'
"He asked her why she would say that and said her profile on the dating website indicated she was at least 18, and she was in fact 19 by this time.
"She said she was 17 and then asked him 'If you were to force me to have sex with you, what would that be?
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"He replied 'I'd be raping you' and went on to explain why that would be the case but clearly stated nothing had happened and it was just hypothetical."
Harris repeated her question 'You would be doing what?', and the policeman gave the same reply.
The prosecutor said he was confused by the conversation and dropped her home.
But they later argued and in an abusive exchange of texts, he told Harris she was “taking me for a mug”.
He also branded her “a nasty piece of work” before saying goodbye and telling her not to contact him again.
But, the court was told Harris texted him, saying “You said you were going to rape me and said you didn't care I was young”.
She then sent him the video recording.
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Mr Forbes said: "It showed a clip of the conversation they had previously had in the car about the hypothetical rape scenario, which had been cropped to make it appear the complainant said 'I'd be raping you', with the defendant saying 'I don't want you to rape me'.
"That was all that was contained in the clip, and didn't contain the lengthier and fuller conversation that preceded and followed these contents."
Alarmed by what he saw, the policeman asked Harris to call him.
The prosecutor continued: "She said words to the effect of 'You had better pay £200 into my bank account or I'm going to the police with that video'.
"He immediately hung up and received more texts providing her bank details. The amount being demanded was now £250."
The court heard no money was paid and the video was not made public.
Harris made no comment during her police interview but was said to have “sincerely apologised” in her hand-written letter.
She wrote: "I was in a very bad place and have been for a few years....I now realise the full extent of my actions and I am sorry for putting you through this.
"I was not in my right mind. After all, who blackmails a police officer. Looking back, I cannot understand why I did something like that. Apologies."
A probation officer told the court Harris was motivated by financial greed and immaturity, and 'wanted to see what she could get' out of her relationship before she resorted to blackmail.
Edward Duncan Smith, defending, said Harris, who hopes to become an air hostess, never intended to go as far as she did.
"It snowballed. She has expressed to me a high level of genuine shame for her behaviour. It was out of character." He added she was no longer drinking and had sought psychiatric help.
It was also said she would lose her job if locked up, and her mum would not let her return to the family home.
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