TEENAGER, Andras Nemeth, tried to blackmail £6,000 out of his care agency bosses by sending them a threatening letter.
The Hungarian had his hours cut by Brian Atkinson and his wife Carolyne Collins-Atkinson from Tuffley who ran Carmel Domiciliary Care Ltd before he wrote them a 'badly written' note - demanding they leave cash for him at a drop off point.
Gloucester Crown Court heard he had split up with their daughter, had to move out of their home and was worried about finances when he wrote the letter on January 29, this year.
It stated: "This message is important! We are TVSO (the biggest security organisation). We are make sure everything is under control and we have power to see everything listen everything as we have CCTV (sic)."
It added threats to their safety and said addresses and information about the company were known. He demanded that £6,000 was placed in envelopes and delivered to drop off points in Askwith Road, Gloucester before 8pm that evening.
Prosecutor Janine Wood told the court Mr Atkinson immediately believed the typed note was from Nemeth because of the poor English and that he lived near the drop off.
She said a search of the 19-year-old's home revealed a USB stick with the letter on.
She told the court: "In interview he said he had split up with his girlfriend and that led him to attempt to take his own life.
"He saw one last opportunity to scare them and to get some money.
"His threats were to scare them and he had no intention of harming anyone."
Mrs Collins-Atkinson said she was terrified by the incident and not just for herself, but the rest of her staff.
Defending Stephen Ritter said: "He had got desperate. He was working for them and living with them so he concocted this scam.
"It was naïve and unsophisticated.
"He is likely to leave this country as soon as he possibly can.
"It was an overgrown boy's stupidity and his reaction to the break up with their daughter.
"He is very remorseful and he understands it was a stupid thing to do."
Nemeth pleaded guilty to making demanding money with menaces.
Recorder Rufus Taylor described it as "seriously unsophisticated blackmail".
Jailing him for eight months he told Nemeth, previously of Stanway Road in Gloucester: "Blackmail is one of the ugliest and vicious crimes in the calendar of offences."
