Irish England cricket captain's blackmail

Eoin Morgan (28), from Dublin, was told to hand over the equivalent of €46,175 before his England team's game against Australia today.

He was told the demand should be met "before the first ball".

But the England and Wales Cricket Board were concerned that it could disrupt the Tri-Series match and moved to cut the perpetrator off.

The board notified police in the UK and the source of the blackmail was found in Hobart, Australia.

It is understood to be the current boyfriend of the woman in question and she was said to be furious when she found out what he had done.

apologised

Managing director of the cricket board Paul Downton, said that the threat had involved the release of embarrassing details "including videos" which he claimed the suspect found on the Australian woman's old phone.

"We contacted the Metropolitan Police and a brief investigation tracked down this individual," Mr Downton said.

"He has now apologised saying it was not intended to go this far," he added.

"It was brief relationship five years ago and what appears to be a fairly deliberate attempt to extort a sum of money from the ECB," he said.

In a further twist a man contacted a Melbourne newspaper admitting he was the man involved and saying he had "sexually based" messages.

hnews@herald.ie