Tamara Ecclestone's ex-boyfriend guilty of blackmail

Derek Rose was in a two-year relationship with Tamara Ecclestone which ended in 2002

A former boyfriend of socialite and model Tamara Ecclestone has been found guilty of trying to blackmail her.

Derek Rose, 33, was in a two-year relationship with the daughter of F1 boss Bernie Ecclestone when she was 17.

He tried to blackmail the now 28-year-old for £200,000 in November 2011, Southwark Crown Court heard.

Rose, of Arlington Road in Camden, north London, and Jakir Uddin, of Old Walsall Road, Birmingham, have denied blackmail.

The jury is yet to deliver a verdict on 20-year-old Mr Uddin, a media studies student.

'Pernicious' implications

The email claimed Rose had been offered £200,000 for a story on his relationship with Ms Ecclestone

During the trial the court was told the pair drafted an email to Ms Ecclestone's manager, Dana Malmstrom, saying they had been offered £200,000 for a news story, when in reality no offer had been made.

The email was sent in November 2011 after the model had starred in Billion Dollar Girl, a reality television programme exploring her life as a rich youngster, the court heard.

Prosecutor William Boyce QC said the email was constructed to intimidate Ms Ecclestone and went on with "pernicious" implications about damage to her reputation.

The tone of the email was "you don't really want that in the press whether it's true or not", he told the court.

Rose made £10,000 from selling his story to a tabloid in 2002 after their relationship ended, the jury heard.

During the trial Ms Ecclestone said she just wanted Mr Rose "warned" after receiving the email last November and not necessarily arrested.