A NEWPORT man said he falsely admitted to sending blackmail letters in order to protect someone.

Paul Giulletti, aged 43, of Blackwater Close, Bettws, Newport, is charged with two counts of blackmail. He denies sending two letters to a Gwent couple in order to obtain £40,000 on April 4, 2014, and April 25, 2014.

In his police interview on September 1, 2014, Giulletti admitted to PC Christopher Gambarini that he had sent the letters after he was shown a CCTV image of himself sending a letter by recorded delivery at Bettws Post Office.

He told the officer that the couple were ‘driven by money’ and that he knew it was ‘stupid’ to blackmail them. When asked by David Leathley, defending, why he admitted to sending the letters in his police interview Giulletti said it was to protect someone. He said the person asked him on both occasions to post the letters on their behalf.

He said: "I didn't know what was going on. When I seen the photo in the interview of me in the post office it was like a light bulb moment, the missing piece of the jigsaw came together of what was going on the last couple of months."

He said he had to keep what they had done "a secret."

“I didn’t realise the seriousness of what I had admitted happened.”

He said he believes he had been set up and he claims the person text him 'sorry pal I've got to protect myself.'

PC Gambarini told the court that two fingerprints had been found matching the defendants; one was on the envelope and the other was on the letter inside from April 25. Giulletti said he had touched the envelope when he went to post it.

The court heard that on April 4, the day the couple received the first blackmail letter, Guilletti posted on his Facebook wall.

"Fair play it is funny how things work out in the end. I'm going from wanting to kill to sitting here and laughing so hard that I've fallen off my chair. Karma hits the bull’s-eye - I do love karma.com."

He said this comment was not in relation to the couple he allegedly blackmailed.

Proceeding