A registered sex offender has avoided a prison sentence after admitting to blackmailing several Premier League footballers by tricking them into sending him explicit photographs. The case highlights the vulnerability of high-profile athletes to online extortion and raises questions about how sentencing guidelines are applied to offenders who target well-known victims.

The court heard details of how the offender posed as someone else online to deceive the players into sharing intimate images, which he then used to extort them. Despite his existing status as a registered sex offender and the seriousness of the blackmail scheme, the judge opted for a non-custodial sentence, a decision likely to attract scrutiny given the profile of both the offender and his victims.