Man filmed himself with Muslim women and 'blackmailed' them, court told

An Asian man secretly filmed himself having sex with Muslim women he had met on an online dating website and blackmailed them into giving him money by threatening to put the footage on the internet, a court has heard.

"Sexual predator" Farhan Mirza, 38, is accused of targeting three women, secretly filming them and then threatening to bring shame upon them and their families by publishing the videos unless they gave him money and gifts.

Cardiff Crown Court heard that Mirza is accused of voyeurism, blackmail, theft and fraud - including pretending to be a doctor - in order to commit a string of offences over a three-year period.

The jury of four men and eight women watched a series of video clips, which included one woman having sex with the defendant and another alleged victim getting dressed after having had a shower.

Timothy Evans, prosecuting, told the jury told that the case was very sensitive and the three alleged victims, who cannot be identified for legal reasons, were Muslim women with connections to other countries.

"It is the prosecution's case that Mr Mirza is a particular kind of sexual predator and he chooses his victims carefully," he said.

"Each of these ladies, to a greater or lesser extent, ended up having a relationship with Mr Mirza. The prosecution suggest that via those relationships he tried to get money and services from them.

"The position, the prosecution suggest, is this. Because of their religious and ethnic backgrounds he targeted them because of the terror, embarrassment and humiliation that each of these ladies would have felt in their minds by what this defendant did to them.

"He put each of them in a position where there were videos of them, which they didn't know about until he landed them with potential humiliation.

"It is one thing to persuade a partner to help you out or beg. It is reprehensible generally to lie to a partner to achieve something and what the prosecution suggests is that Mr Mirza went further than that."

Mirza, of Arael View, Abertillery, Gwent denies four charges of blackmail, three of voyeurism, one of theft and one of fraud by false representation.

The trial continues.