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A former police officer in South Yorkshire has been jailed for blackmailing a suspect to pay off gambling debts.
Marie Thompson, 29, has been jailed for three years and four months after an investigation by South Yorkshire Police’s Professional Standards Department (PSD), as detailed in a report from the police force. The former police constable was found guilt of blackmailing a suspect in one of her own cases.
In 2023, Thompson, who was working in Doncaster, anonymously reached out to a suspect she was investigating. She used a fake email account to attempt to force a £3,500 ($4,600) ransom from the suspect to keep the allegations against them quiet.
The suspect took the blackmail to the police, with the case then allocated to Thompson as it was thought to be connected to her ongoing investigation. Thompson recorded false notes that the suspect did not want to pursue further steps in the investigation.
Another anonymous email was sent by Thompson a few days later, under the subject line: “I’m so sorry.” The email said that the sender was desperate, apologized for the previous blackmail attempt, and promised to stop all contact. Suspicions were nonetheless raised against Thompson, leading to a PSD investigation and then her arrest in October 2023.
Thompson was still in her probation period with South Yorkshire Police and was immediately suspended upon her arrest. Further investigation from PSD found that the emails had been sent from her personal laptop and that Thompson was in “significant debt through gambling”, although the exact amount is not publicly known.
Police officer charged and sentenced
After pleading guilty at Leeds Crown Court on September 4, Thompson was sentenced to three years and four months in prison for blackmail and perverting the course of justice. She has also been served with a Regulation 13 notice, which deems her unfit to serve as a police officer.
“Thompson’s crimes are shameful and cast a shadow over the excellent work being delivered for our communities by policing colleagues driven by fairness, integrity and trust,” said Detective Constable Alexandra Furniss, the officer in charge of this case.
“There is no place in our force for police officers who fail to live and work by our values and standards. Our work to root out these individuals continues in our tireless bid to ensure our force builds and maintains the trust and confidence of the public.”
A similar story was reported last month in Australia’s New South Wales, where a police officer sold gold bars to fund his gambling debts.
Featured image: South Yorkshire Police
The post Former police officer jailed for blackmailing suspect to repay ‘significant’ gambling debts appeared first on ReadWrite.

Congressman Paul D. Tonko has sent letters to various major sports leagues, calling on them to support his federal gambling safety act.
As the world of sports betting continues to grapple with the knock-on effects of the NBA scandal, Congressman Paul D. Tonko has written letters to various major professional sports leagues, including the NBA, WNBA, NFL, NHL, MLB, MSL, and NWSL. The letters are addressed to the respective commissioners but have been made available for all to read, calling on the organization to support his Supporting Affordability and Fairness with Every Bet (SAFE Bet) Act.

It’s time for @NBA and other professional leagues to throw their weight behind minimum federal standards on sports gambling before this problem gets even further out of hand.
— Paul Tonko (@RepPaulTonko) October 23, 2025

The proposed act aims to implement federal gambling safety standards in a number of key areas. That includes requiring states to apply to the US Attorney General for permission to offer sports betting, implementing a nationwide ban on wagers like in-play betting and prop bets, and restrictions on advertising.
There are also customer protection measures, such as government mandates for affordability checks on bettors, a national self-exclusion list for problem gamblers, and a ban on allowing credit cards to be used in betting accounts.
The backdrop of the NBA scandal
While work on the SAFE Bet Act has been in the works for years, Tonko and supporters of the gambling safety proposal have highlighted the NBA scandal as an example of why it’s sorely needed.
“Claims of prioritizing integrity ring hollow when leagues have sold credibility to gambling operators, integrated betting content into broadcasts, normalized wagering for teenagers, glorified it in advertising, and then failed to prevent criminal conduct from taking hold within the sport,” the letters read.
“The stakes go far beyond the integrity of the sport; they encompass the very real human harm occurring across communities nationwide.
“The reliance on voluntary self-policing has failed. If the integrity of professional sports depends on federal law enforcement alone, the current system is already broken.”
When the new broke about the NBA scandal on October 23, Tonko took to Facebook to highlight the urgency of the SAFE Bet Act, writing: “Scandals like this are an inevitable consequence of the unchecked explosion of the sports betting industry. That’s why we need to pass my SAFE Bet Act – to address public health, protect competitive integrity, and give sports back to the American people.”
Readwrite has contacted Congressman Tonko for further comment.
Featured image: Office of Paul D. Tonko
The post Congressman Tonko calls on major sports leagues to support gambling safety after NBA scandal appeared first on ReadWrite.