SENSATIONAL CASE.

Taranaki Daily News, 20 January 1921, Page 2

SENSATIONAL CASE.

MILLIONAIRE BLACKMAILED. A LIGHT SENTENCE. What some of the London papers described as sensational and others as a strange case, was recently heard at the Old Bailey when Sir Herbert Frederick Cook,* multi-millionaire, head of a big soft goods firm, proceeded against Mrs. Helga Sawrey Cookson, 32, in a black-mail case. His father, the late Sir Frederick, died about a year ago, leaving 6,500,000 dollars, and Mrs Cookson in her blackmailing letter demanded from Sir Herbert a yearly sum of £5OOO to “buy and furnish a house in London” and for the payment of her debts. It was revealed in court that Mrs. Cokson had known Sir Herbert since 1912, and that in 1914 he gave her £lO,OOO. Mrs. Cookson got off with a light sentence. She was bound over on her own recognisance in £5 after listening to a severe reprimand from Justice Darling. Mrs. Cookson is a Dane by birth. Her maiden name was Samuel. She married in England in 1914, the year she got her “settlement” from Sir Herbert. In her letter to Sir Herbert she gave him five days for compliance with her demands, saying: “I’m not in any particular hurry, but I shouldn’t be surprised if H- C. were to die suddenly any day.” She then threatened to write letters to prominent neighbors of Sir Herbert making certain allegations against him and to burn his valuable collection of pictures.