Tamara Ecclestone's Ex-Fiance Denies Blackmail

Tamara Ecclestone has given evidence in the trial of an ex-boyfriend who is accused of trying to blackmail her for £200,000 - almost 10 years after they broke up.

Derek Rose, who dated the eldest daughter of Formula One supremo Bernie Ecclestone when she was 17, threatened to reveal details of their relationship, Southwark Crown Court heard.

The pair split up in August 2002. The same year, Rose, 33, sold a story to the Daily Mail about her for £10,000, the jury was told.

By November 2011, he had orchestrated a blackmail letter with co-accused Jakir Uddin, a 20-year-old media studies student from the West Midlands, it is alleged.

The court heard the men sent an email to Ms Ecclestone's then manager Dana Malmstrom claiming Rose had received "a life-changing offer of £200,000" for details of their relationship. But no newspaper had made an offer.

Uddin sent the email acting as Rose's official representative on November 16, 2011, the court was told.

The defendants were hoping the victim would buy their silence, said William Boyce QC, prosecuting.

Mr Boyce said the email went on with "pernicious" implications about damage to Ms Ecclestone's reputation.

The tone of it was "you don't really want that in the press whether it's true or not," said Mr Boyce.

The defendants allegedly wrote they would be happy to discuss "a non-release fee" and sign a confidentiality contract - but they also gave a deadline of the following Friday when they claimed they had to answer the tabloid's offer.

An email police retrieved from Rose's computer which was sent to Ms Ecclestone after the couple broke up was given to the jury.

Its content was described as "extraordinarily offensive" by Mr Boyce, who said it "contained all sorts of allegations".

"You may think he professed to love her," said the QC. "In fact he loathed and despised her."

Rose was the "driving force" behind the scheme and planned to keep £150,000 if they were successful, added the prosecutor.

Ms Ecclestone told the court after receiving the email in November 2011 she just wanted Rose "warned".

She said she discussed the email with her father and no other boyfriends had sold stories about her.

The seven men and five women of the jury heard that Rose and Uddin blamed each other upon arrest.

Rose, of Arlington Road, Camden, London, and Uddin, of Old Walsall Road, Birmingham, both deny blackmail.

The trial continues.