Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

Aberdeen woman avoids jail after faking her own kidnapping to scam boyfriend

Rachel Skene
Rachel Skene

An Aberdeen woman who faked her own kidnapping to extort money from her boyfriend avoided prison yesterday, but her accomplice was jailed.

Rachel Skene, 30, and 26-year-old John Gaskell cooked up a twisted plot to gain £2,000 from Charles Duncan on May 29 last year.

They told the man that Skene’s hands would be chopped off if he didn’t transfer the money into her bank account.

But, smelling a rat, the intended victim contacted the police and the pair were arrested.

Skene, of 52 Oldcroft Road in Aberdeen, later admitted a charge of “pretending she was being held against her will and required payment of money to be released”, and attempting to obtain money by fraud.

Gaskell is from Liverpool, and appeared on remand at Aberdeen Sheriff Court yesterday.

He admitted placing Mr Duncan in a state of fear and alarm, “for the purpose of extorting money from him”.

The court heard that Skene was “terrified of prison” and had since taken steps to address her drug use.

Sheriff William Summers said the offences involved “some quite frightening threats of serious physical violence”.

He added: “This must have been a horrifying experience for the complainer.

“But the circumstances of both accused parties are different and the sentencing will reflect that.”

Gaskell was sentenced to 12 months in jail, while Skene – who had no previous convictions – was ordered to remain under supervision for two years and to perform 180 hours of community service.