A man has been convicted of helping to scam a senior out of $1,200.

Janico Burrows, 28, was found guilty of making unwarranted demands with menace through a scheme with Jahmeco Blakeney.

The Supreme Court jury reached a unanimous decision yesterday after about 3½ hours of deliberation.

During testimony, the court heard that Burrows worked with Blakeney to steal from Paulette Godfrey over the course of four days in June 2020.

Blakeney earlier pleaded guilty to the theft and was sentenced to 18 months imprisonment in January.

Ms Godfrey, who first took the stand on March 4, told the court that she received a phone call on June 2 from a private number and heard a man on the other end attempting to disguise his voice.

She said that the man told her that her son owed him and others money and threatened to “put my son in a plastic bag and throw him on my lawn”.

She agreed to pay the blackmailers $1,200 in instalments over the next three days and met a person at St Anne’s Church in Southampton each day to give them the cash.

Ms Godfrey said that she could not see the man’s face because it was obscured by a mask, which was mandatory at the time, but added that she could make out Burrows’ eyes and mannerisms.

She said that the calls continued after she paid the $1,200, and that the caller became frustrated after she refused to give an additional $200 and forgot to conceal his voice.

Ms Godfrey said that she recognised the man as Blakeney, a friend of her son’s, and called the police.

Blakeney was arrested on June 7, while Burrows was arrested several days later.

The court also heard from Stephany Burrows Trott, Burrows’ great aunt and Blakeney’s former foster mother, who said that both men lived under her roof at the time.

She said that the two were not close but communicated with each other every day.

She added that Blakeney suffered several mental health problems and described him as “a manipulator, but very charming”.

Phone records showed a whirlwind of telephone calls between Burrows, Blakeney and Ms Godfrey.

The senior received four phone calls from Burrows’ phone on June 3 in the space of about 20 minutes, while the men called her 18 times collectively in less than an hour on June 5.

Police found WhatsApp messages between Blakeney and Burrows, where the former relayed instructions to the latter on how much money to ask for and when and where to meet Ms Godfrey.

Burrows took the stand on March 6 and admitted taking cash from the senior, but he insisted that he had no idea she was being pressured to give the money.

He explained that Blakeney told him that she owed him money and that he later agreed to collect the money because he did not want his aunt to worry about Blakeney.

He acknowledged that his working hours and salary had been reduced because of the pandemic, but denied the prosecutor’s suggestion that he conspired with Blakeney to blackmail Ms Godfrey because he was struggling financially.

Burrows said that he called Ms Godfrey from his phone and met her without incident over the course of three days.

He added that he never knew that Blakeney had menaced the senior and insisted that he would not have helped if he had known.

Puisne Judge Juan Wolffe ordered a social inquiry report for Burrows and adjourned his case until the Supreme Court’s May arraignment session at the start of the month.

He remanded Burrows in custody.

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