Christchurch man 'blackmailed' woman over naked photo

Thomas James Burborough pleaded guilty to charges of causing harm by posting digital communication. Photo / File

A Christchurch man who tried to "blackmail" a woman into meeting him by posting a naked photo of her on Instagram has been warned by a judge that he could go to jail.

Thomas James Burborough, 28, exchanged intimate photographs with a 27-year-old woman earlier this year, Christchurch District Court heard today.

Afterwards, Burborough threatened to put naked photos of her on the Internet if she did not meet with him.

On June 18, the victim went to Christchurch Central Police Station to make a complaint about the threats.

While making her statement to police, Burborough posted a picture of her naked body on popular social media site, Instagram.

Police said the move was designed by Burborough to "further threaten and intimidate the victim into meeting with him".

The next day, police raided Burborough's house.

They found several containers of high-quality cannabis in nine bags. Officers also found a set of scales and some small bags for packaging the cannabis for supply in his bedroom.

When spoken to by police, Burborough apologised for posting the image online.

In relation to the cannabis, he said he'd bought a pound for about $3500 with the intention of making some money to get himself out of financial debt.

Today, Burborough pleaded guilty to charges of causing harm by posting digital communication under the Harmful Digital Communications Act 2015 and possession for supply of cannabis.

Judge Stephen O'Driscoll ordered the destruction of all images relating to the victim from Burborough's computer hard drive.

He remanded him on bail to be sentenced on September 14 and called for home detention and community sentence reports but said that was no indication of what the final sentence will be.