Of revealing or publicizing either substantially true

Mode of trial and sentence
Blackmail is an indictable-only offence. A person convicted of blackmail is liable to imprisonment for any term not exceeding fourteen years.^[39]
In R v Hadjou (1989),^[40] Lord Lane CJ said that blackmail is one of the ugliest and most vicious crimes because it often involves what he described as "attempted murder of the soul". He said that, perhaps because courts always impose severe sentences, one seldom finds a person convicted a second time of blackmail. He said that deterrence is perhaps the most important part of a sentence in a case of blackmail.
Related offences
Because blackmail can cover any unwarranted demand with a menace, many other offences may also be carried out as part of committing blackmail, or by the same events. For example:

• 
  An offence of robbery under section 8(1) of the Theft Act 1968 may be committed, if a person puts or seeks to put another person in fear of being subjected to force if their demand is not met.
  

• 
  An offence under section 4 of the Public Order Act 1986 might be committed if a person intended to cause another person to believe that immediate unlawful violence will be used against him (or someone else) or if the person threatened is likely to believe that such violence will be used.^[41]
  

• 
  An offence under section 2 of the Criminal Damage Act 1971 may be committed if there is a threat to destroy or damage property.
  

• 
  An offence under section 5 of the Criminal Law Act 1967 may be committed if a person receives consideration (broadly meaning: any gain or benefit) in exchange for agreeing not to report any "relevant" (previously: "arrestable") offence.
  

• 
  Several kinds of offence under Section 40 of the Administration of Justice Act 1970 may be committed by debt collectors and other creditors, if they make false and coercive statements in order to coerce debtors to pay them money.^[42]
  

Civil liability
A blackmailer who threatens to publish a defamatory statement of and concerning an individual may be liable to be sued after the regulations of the Defamation Act 2013.^[43] Offenders of defamation may be taken to court if serious harm is done to the victim. The requirement for serious harm defines:
(1) A statement is not defamatory unless its publication has caused or is likely to cause serious harm to the reputation of the claimant.
(2) For the purposes of this section, harm to the reputation of a body that trades for profit is not "serious harm" unless it has caused or is likely to cause the body serious financial loss.
The trial for the offence must be with a jury in the case of charges with cases of:^[44]
(a) fraud
(b) malicious prosecution
(c) false imprisonment