Court told couple were blackmailed by pub stranger

IT'S ALLEGED THEY PAID HIM A TOTAL OF £7,000

- CARL JACKSON News Reporter

A “BULLY” who is “making people's lives hell” threatened to smash a couple’s heads in during a £7,000 blackmail plot which went on for months, a court has been told.

Twaha Kaana has been accused of targeting the man and woman after they went to the Coppice pub in Rednal to celebrate moving into a new flat together.

The 26-year-old is also alleged to have extorted a third person by demanding they settle their brother’s drug debt.

Kaana, of Ernest Road, Sparkbrook, stands trial at Birmingham Crown Court denying three counts of blackmail.

Opening the case this week, prosecutor Andrew Wallace said: “We say the defendant is a bully.

“He is the kind of person who is able to persuade more vulnerable people to give him money by threatening them with violence.”

He added: “He says he didn’t do that. He says these are two sets of people who don’t know each other, who have just lied about him.”