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An award-winning Asian Games rowing star has been jailed for 15 months for trying to extort HK$3 million from her elderly 'sugar daddy' by threatening to send a tape of them having sex to the media.
Deputy District Judge Johnny Chan Jong-herng  criticised Gloria Chan Hok-yan,  27, yesterday for her lack of remorse and her insistence, despite the conviction, that she had not intended to blackmail her lover. 
He also expressed disapproval of the victim - a 72-year-old businessman identified only as 'X'. The judge said X, whom he called a sugar daddy, 'showered the defendant with money and gifts for years in return for an extramarital romantic relationship'.
The judge had earlier ruled Chan decided to get a lump sum from X when he started to spurn her after she rejected his requests for sex.
 She was found guilty in the District Court of blackmail for sending him a letter demanding money, using a sex tape that did not exist, which the judge yesterday called an 'idle threat'.
The judge said Mr X did not deserve such treatment despite his wooing and then rejection of Chan.
Oliver Davies,  for Chan, said her culpability was less serious because she had made no financial gain. The judge rejected this argument, saying that had the victim given in to her threat, she would have obtained the money.
The victim had instead reported the matter to police and consulted a lawyer. Chan was arrested in an undercover police sting.
The judge said the crime was serious and Chan had shown no remorse. He rejected Davies' plea for a suspended sentence or community order, saying a  jail term was the only appropriate sentence.
The judge accepted that Chan was a 'successful athlete' who had 'versatile talents' in music, dancing and rowing. He adopted 18 months as a starting point and reduced it by three months for her previous good character.
The court heard that in 1999, Chan was selected as outstanding student of the year by the South China Morning Post, received an award from chief executive Tung Chee-hwa  for representing Hong Kong in the 2002 Asian Games, and set a rowing record that stood for 10 years. She excelled in drawing, dancing and sports.
When the sentence was handed down, Chan's mother smiled and thanked the lawyers. She told her daughter: 'There's nothing to worry about' as Chan asked her to take care of her four-year-old son.
The court heard that the businessman got to know Chan in 2005 when she worked as a receptionist at a Kwai Chung restaurant he frequented. He showed her affection, wrote her a love note and gave her tips of up to HK$20,000.
He later asked her to work at his company as a shipping clerk for HK$10,000 a month and gave her another HK$10,000 each month. Over five years, he gave her about HK$300,000. 
She left his firm when she found out she was pregnant to her boyfriend, whom she married soon after using HK$100,000 given by X.
Chan's sexual affair with X started in March as her marriage deteriorated. They went to a motel three times. He began to avoid her after she refused to have sex the third time. Chan said she had written the letter because she was angry and confused and wanted to force him to meet her and clarify their relationship.
But the judge said she did it because she knew she would not get any more money from him.



Rowing star jailed for 15 months over sex tape blackmail