Man is jailed for three years after threatening to burn down Viagogo boss's home if he was not paid $1m for confiscated Arsenal season tickets

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A tout who threatened to burn down the home of ticketing website boss unless he was paid $1million for his confiscated Arsenal tickets has been jailed.

Boxing fan Ross Connor waged an 'aggressive and sustained campaign' after a blunder by Viagogo saw his customers' passes to a Champions League clash seized.

The 34-year-old bombarded staff at the legal secondary market ticket website with threatening emails, staged a sit-in at the central London offices and even asked on Twitter for someone to 'bang out this ginger tosser' Ed Parkinson, the company's director, a court heard.

Ross Connor threatened to burn down the home of an online ticketing company director if he did not pay him £656,000 has been jailed

Connor even sent a sympathy card to Mr Parkinson's family home, where he warned that burning down their house would have been cheaper than his legal fees. 

The judge told Connor his threats to Viagogo staff members and family members of Mr Parkinson was 'utterly indefensible.' 

The row began after Viagogo wrongly allowed the boxing fanatic to sell tickets to Arsenal's 2013 Champions League clash with Bayern Munich on their site.

When the German fans who bought the tickets ended up in the home stand at the Emirates Stadium among Arsenal supporters, they were ejected and had their tickets confiscated.

Connor had demanded Viagogo £10,000 to reimburse him and his customers for the confiscated tickets. The company agreed paying a total of £12,500.

But after the success of the initial pay out, he began to demand more and more money in a sinister blackmail campaign in which he threatened the company he would go to 'any lengths' to get the money he believed he was owed.

Connor, pictured with boxing champion Manny Pacquiao, blackmailed Viagogo staff after customers he sold tickets to had them confiscated

Richard Marks QC, the Common Sergeant of London, said: 'Your actions... amounted to an aggressive and sustained campaign over a lengthy period of a number of months, which was calculated and did cause real intimidation.

'Against this background, whether with sound justification or not, you bore Viagogo a very serious grudge and when they refused to comply with these ever-increasing demands to be reimbursed in ever larger amounts of money, which ended up at $1million, this developed into an obsession as far as you were concerned.

'You bombarded bombarded employees with texts, phone calls and emails, becoming more aggressive in tone with larger demands.'

Judge told Connor he had carried out an 'aggressive and sustained campaign' against Viagogo

The court heard that Connor believed he was owed the staggering sum to cover his ever-increasing legal costs and as he felt he was losing hundreds of customers as he wasn't one of Viagogo's promoted sellers.

His aggressive campaign began with him occupying the Viagogo offices in Holborn, central London, taking photos and refusing to leave until he was arrested by police.

The 34-year-old, who has previously made headlines when he became so unrecognisable after dropping 8st at a year-long kick boxing camp that Thai border guards refused to believe he was the same person, then began sending threatening emails.

In them, he demanded £400,000 and warned: 'I'm just after what I'm owed' adding 'I will go to any lengths.'

Prosecutor Archie McKay said Connor was 'fixated' on pursuing his claim, saying in an email on April 14 last year that ignoring people would 'make them more made and push them to new extremes'.

Connor then broadcast images of Viagogo staff, calling them 'a few of the scum' and instructing viewers to attack Mr Parkinson by asking: 'Anyone want to bang out that ginger tosser from Viagogo?'

'That's an invitation to punch in the face Mr Parkinson because he is a director of Viagogo and his office address Connor put with it', said Mr McKay.

'It is the prosecution case that Mr Connor knew full well he was dealing with a business, he had previously benefited from their embarrassment by way of a pay off.

'This was his design - to be such a problem for the company that decision makers come to a similar business decision and he would be paid.

The court heard that Connor believed he was owed the staggering sum to cover his ever-increasing legal costs and as he felt he was losing hundreds of customers as he wasn't one of Viagogo's promoted sellers

The 34-year-old previously made headlines when he became so unrecognisable after dropping 8st at a year-long kick boxing camp that Thai border guards refused to believe he was the same person

The 34-year-old bombarded staff at the legal secondary market ticket website with threatening emails, staged a sit-in at the central London offices and even asked on Twitter for someone to 'bang out this ginger tosser' Ed Parkinson, the company's director, a court heard

'Part of the design was to be relentless, his mindset had to be 'you can't ignore me, I will not go away'.

'All the actions are designed to cause as much embarrassment and cost to the company as he could.'

Mr McKay said Connor reported the company to the police, and sent an email to the American chief executive Eric Baker in October last year, demanding $1m (£656,000) in compensation to settle his claim.

Shortly afterwards, in November last year, he sent the sympathy card to Mr Parkinson's wife, saying: 'I write to you now as Ed thinks it's fine to play all these games to wind me up.

'Viagogo owe me a large sum of money and are ignoring all legal attempts.

'I've wasted so much money in legal fees, burning this house would have been the cheapest option.

'You have two hours from signing for this for Ed Parkinson to contact me.

'If you ignore this final request, you address will be made public online so I won't be the only one chasing you.

'I will advertise lots of cheap items to this address so you get door-knocked all day, never knowing when the real call comes.'

The card added: 'Innocent people don't need involved' and suggested she go 'back to Wales' with her children.'

Connor, originally from Bretton, Peterborough, told jurors he was just making a determined attempt to get compensation he was legally owed.

The defendant, of Donington, Spalding, Lincolnshire, denied blackmail but was convicted by a jury and sentenced to three years in jail.