LONDON (Reuters) -British police said a 28-year old man was charged with blackmail and other offences on Wednesday, after an investigation prompted by the targeting of a number of lawmakers and others working in parliament last year with ‘honeytrap’ messages.
The man, Oliver Steadman from North London, is alleged to have sent WhatsApp messages, including alleged unsolicited indecent images, to five people involved in British politics between October 2023 and April 2024.
A senior member of Britain’s then governing Conservative Party, William Wragg, admitted supplying the personal details of fellow lawmakers to someone he met online in April 2024.
He said he had felt compromised after he sent intimate photos of himself to the person.
Concerns that lawmakers could be vulnerable to cyberattacks and bribery are heightened following warnings that Chinese spies are targeting British officials in sensitive positions in politics, defence and business as part of an increasingly sophisticated operation to gain access to secrets.
When Wragg came forward last April, it was reported that twelve men including a serving government minister had been targeted, receiving flirtatious messages and pictures from people who called themselves Abi or Charlie.
Steadman was charged with one count of blackmail and five counts of improper use of a public electronic communications network, the police statement said, and he will appear in Westminster Magistrates’ Court on November 3.
(Reporting by Sarah Young. Editing by Andrew MacAskill)
