How porn king Paul Raymond foiled two blackmailers

THE "King of Soho" Paul Raymond turned the tables on blackmailers in a series of bizarre telephone calls, police files revealed today.

The porn baron convinced them to collect a £15,000 payment from him - but their conversation was being recorded by police and the change of plan led to their arrests.

The two men, Eden Reid and Douglas White, who were posing as IRA members in search of funds, were convicted of blackmail in 1972 and jailed for three and five years respectively.

They had threatened to kill the businessman's ex-wife, blow up his premises and shoot him.

But Raymond - who died two years ago aged 82 and whose pornography empire included Mayfair and Men Only magazines - told them he had the cash and demanded to hand it over immediately. Knowing that the police were listening, he said: "You can shoot me if you want to."

In the conversation made public in the National Archives today, the man he was talking to said: "We will send somebody to collect you in the next quarter of an hour - and no bloody nonsense."

Reid was arrested as he went to collect the cash, followed by White.