A CONVICTED blackmailer was starting his second spell behind bars last night for waging a campaign of terror against a young couple.

Nell Thygesen was jailed for six years for what a judge described as "heinous crimes" against Liam Thompson and girlfriend Rebecca Harper.

The couple had to move house and resorted to having limited contact with friends and family after Thygesen began making threats against them.

A court heard yesterday that the couple had since split up and were still in hiding, despite Thygesen's arrest and subsequent conviction.

The 35-year-old was found guilty last month of blackmail and two charges of witness intimidation after a week-long trial at Teesside Crown Court.

A jury heard how he initially threatened Mr Thompson when he was unable to make repayments to a back-street money-lender in the summer of 2004.

Mr Thompson, who lived in Middlesbrough at the time, went to the loan shark after spending a near-£50,000 inheritance in only five months.

Thygesen said he had called to collect the balance on the £1,200 debt when he confronted the 25-year-old at his home.

He then made repeated telephone threats to Mr Thompson and Miss Harper when the inflated payments were not met.

Eventually, he turned up at Mr Thompson's flat in North Ormesby, assaulted him and took his £17,500 Lotus Elise as payment.

Mr Thompson was told his debt would be paid from the sale of the sports car, and he would receive what was left, but that never happened.

Thygesen also threatened to have Mr Thompson harmed or killed by gangs from Leeds or Newcastle if he did not withdraw a complaint to the police.

Richard Mullarkey, prosecuting, told the court that when the two men met at a Teesside nightclub, Thygesen said: "Your life depends on making one phone call to get the charges dropped."

Former Hartlepool man Thygesen went on the run for almost two years before he was arrested in a Middlesbrough pub last June.

Judge George Moorhouse jailed him for five years for blackmail, with an extra six months for each of the witness intimidation charges.

He told Thygesen: "It is essential that members of the public are protected, with people like you around.

"You know that people who commit heinous crimes such as this are committing very serious offences, which justify lengthy custodial sentences."

After the case, Acting Sergeant Vas Khan, of Cleveland Police, described Thygesen as a "cunning, well-connected, organised criminal".

Earlier, defence barrister Jeremy Hill-Baker said that just ahead of both convictions for blackmail, Thygesen had built up a successful used car business.

He added: "Having experienced that twice, it is extremely unlikely that he will allow himself to fall victim to temptation a third time."

Thygesen, whose address was given as Craven Street, Middlesbrough, was jailed for three-and-a-half years in 2002 for blackmailing a pub boss in North- allerton, North Yorkshire, while chasing a debt.