Leslie Noel: Sheffield blackmailer who threatened and demanded £20k from latest victim back behind bars

Leslie Noel, aged 58, was jailed for 16 years in 2011 for two separate incidents of blackmail, including one in which he shut one victim in his own house, produced an imitation firearm and demanded £15,000 at knifepoint.

Noel was still on licence for those offences when he committed an almost identical offence of blackmail in what The Recorder of Sheffield, Judge Jeremy Richardson KC, described as “history repeating itself” during a sentencing hearing held on April 14, 2025.

Handing Noel a five-year prison sentence, Judge Richardson told him: “You were just the sort of individual to be recruited to indulge in this form of criminality…history repeated itself.”

Sheffield Crown Court heard how, during an incident in or around his latest victim’s home, Noel demanded ever-increasing sums of money ranging from £8,000 to £20,000, threatening serious violence towards the complainant and his female family members as he did so.

Prosecutor, Eleanor Mitten, described how the complainant’s family were in such a state of fear that initially they agreed to hand over a sum of £6,000, as part of a family inheritance which was being stored in a safe in the family home.

Noel, however, was not satisfied with the offer of £6,000 and subsequently demanded a further £14,000, Ms Mitten said.

During Noel’s trial, an eye-witness, who is related to the complainant, revealed how she heard Noel threatening to “put one up him and her,” which she took to mean he was threatening to shoot the complainant and either his daughter or his wife.

Judge Richardson continued: “You demanded substantial amounts of money, with menaces, at or around the home of the victim.

“Large sums were incrementally demanded with menaces, up to £20,000.”

“The consequences of that for the victim were considerable. He has been greatly anguished and frightened by what occurred. His family has been affected too.”

In his statement to the court, the complainant said he has been “living in fear” since the incident and has been “petrified” by it.

The complainant said he has installed a CCTV system in a bid to make him and his family feel safer in the wake of the incident, which, he said, has resulted in a deterioration of his mental health.

He added that while he is relieved that Noel has been found guilty of blackmail, he continues to feel worried about Noel’s “capabilities” from prison, because he knows “he is well-connected.”

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Detailing the possible motive for the incident, which unfolded on November 4, 2023, Judge Richardson said it appears to relate to a burglary at a garage, in which “expensive items,” along with a “quantity of drugs” were reportedly stolen.

Judge Richardson said Noel clearly had a “close connection” to individuals who felt “aggrieved” at the items lost during the burglary.

He said the complainant is likely to be connected to those believed to be responsible for the burglary, but emphasised there is no evidence to suggest he was directly involved.

Noel, of Madehurst Road, Heeley, Sheffield, was found guilty of one count of blackmail with menaces at the conclusion of a trial at the same court.

He was acquitted of one count of kidnap charged in connection with the same incident.

In addition to two separate blackmail convictions, the court was also told that Noel has numerous previous entries for grievous bodily harm (GBH) dating as far back as 1994.

One such conviction from 2006 relates to an incident in which Noel produced a baseball bat from his vehicle and subjected his victim to an attack that left them with a broken arm.

Noel was also involved in a group attack in 2005, in which the victim was struck to the head and knocked unconscious, along with a violent disorder incident in 2008 which took place outside a nightclub.

Defending, Syam Soni referred Judge Richardson to three character references submitted on Noel’s behalf from his son-in-law, a long-standing family friend and his daughter, who, he was keen to stress, did not give evidence during the trial.

He detailed Noel’s numerous health issues, which, most recently, resulted in him being hospitalised for several weeks - resulting in his sentencing hearing being delayed.

Mr Soni said that while that particular issue has now been alleviated, he still has a number of other ongoing health complaints.

Continuing in his mitigation, Mr Soni said the case had been “beset by delays,” none of which were Noel’s fault.

The court heard how Noel was recalled to prison to serve the remainder of his 16-year prison sentence passed in 2011, which is now likely to see him remain in prison until the end of 2026.

Jailing Noel for five years, Judge Richardson told him he will begin the sentence from today’s date.

He told Noel, however, that if, when he is released from custody, should he breach his licence for this most recent blackmail offence “in the way you did on this occasion” he is liable to be recalled to prison once again.