Hamiltons defendant 'longed to appear in kiss and tell stories'

A woman who claimed she had been raped by the former Conservative MP Neil Hamilton and his wife, Christine, planned to blackmail famous people about their sex lives, a court heard yesterday.

Barry Lehaney, a pensioner who exchanged e-mails with Nadine Milroy-Sloan, told the Old Bailey she had wanted to meet Mrs Hamilton and the singer Lisa B.

She had been interested in making "a few quid" out of relationships, he told the court. "She wanted to meet singers, showbusiness people, footballers – anyone with money. It was one of her fantasies to do kiss-and-tell like in the Sunday newspapers," he said.

Mr Lehaney, the first witness in Ms Milroy-Sloan's trial for perverting the course of justice, suggested that fantasy played an important part in their six months together on the internet. The 62-year-old arthritis sufferer posed as "Lady Joan" and "Foxy Jan" while the 29-year-old defendant signed on as "SexyBabe@Tesco.net".

She allegedly told him she was having affairs with a police constable and a barrister's wife called Mandy and sent him a topless picture of herself. Mr Lehaney told her that he worked as a chauffeur to "Sir James and Lady Joan Hamilton" and sent her a picture of a model he claimed was "Lady Joan".

He told the court: "She had different blokes on the go. She was having an affair with the driver of a panda car. He was a police constable who originally came for a break-in she had." But when he ended their relationship abruptly, she had wanted to get him into trouble, Mr Lehaney said. "It was just madness. I said no," he said.

When they met for the first time at his home in Ilford, east London, in May 2001, Mr Lehaney said she wanted to meet the fictitious Lady Joan. "I said, 'She is not here. She does not exist'," he told the court. But when she persisted and wanted to see where she lived, he drove her to see some big houses in nearby Chigwell.

"She said Mandy had told her Lady Joan was Christine Hamilton. I said, 'Don't be stupid. Look at the photos,' but she wanted it to be. Neil did not come into it much. It was mainly Christine. She wanted to get Christine. It was lunacy.

"Her operation was to make a few quid out of it. She wanted to meet anyone with money but they had to be married otherwise it would not work."

Ms Milroy-Sloan, from Grimsby, who has four children, later accused Mr Lehaney and the Hamiltons of raping her in May 2001. No charges were brought against them but she was accused of perverting justice. The trial continues.