A man pretended to be a successful doctor to impress women on a dating website, secretly filmed them naked and blackmailed them for thousands of pounds, a jury has heard.
Farhan Mirza, 38, had a set of green hospital scrubs in his wardrobe and made a point of showing off his stethoscope, the court was told.
Mirza, described by the prosecution as a “sexual and financial predator”, allegedly demanded thousands of pounds from three Muslim women, knowing they would be shamed if his videos were released.
Timothy Evans, prosecuting, told Cardiff crown court on Tuesday: “He targeted these ladies because of their religion and their background. In his possession were videos of them which would cause terror, embarrassment and humiliation.”
Evans said Mirza created a profile on the shaadi.com dating site in which he presented himself as a doctor of medicine. He promised to marry one woman and said he would buy her a ring worth £25,000. “He asked her for £4,500 to buy a motorbike as a wedding gift. She transferred him £3,500. When they split up she asked him for her money back but he refused. He later sent her a text threatening to send a video of her … to where she worked. He said he would make her famous.”
Mirza allegedly told a second woman he was a “wealthy doctor”, but their relationship ended after a few months when she found out about his lies. The court heard he kept footage in which she was partially naked. She said she did not know she was being filmed.
The two women were contacted by officers after an investigation involving a third woman who reported Mirza to the police.
She said Mirza had threatened to send a video of them having sex to her family in Pakistan if she stopped giving him money after their breakup. He was also said to have stolen jewellery, clothes and a laptop from her home.
Mirza, of Abertillery in south Wales, denies four counts of blackmail, three of voyeurism, one count of fraud and one count of theft.
One of the alleged blackmail victims also told the jury Mirza drove a gold Mercedes.
The woman said they met up for sex in secret, because “dating was not allowed” in her culture. She told the court: “He told me he was a doctor. He said the majority of his family were doctors as well.
“He said they were all highly educated. There was a lot of airs and graces. We’d meet up for meals, coffees, the cinema. I would always have to pay for it. I did mention a few times he seemed stingy. I pointed it out, but it was water off a duck’s back. He didn’t care.”
Andrew Taylor, defending, said to the woman: “Didn’t you find it surprising a highly qualified doctor was practising in Bristol but was living in a small house? I put it to you he never told you he was a doctor.”
She replied: “He did. He had a stethoscope and green scrubs in his house. When we met one time he got out of his 4x4 gold Mercedes. When he got out of the car he made a point of getting the stethoscope out.”
The trial continues.
