Danny Cipriani slammed by judge after breaking promises to help stripper who aborted his baby in blackmail case
DANNY Cipriani was slammed by a judge after breaking promises to help a stripper who aborted his baby.
The ex-England rugby star, 29, had pledged £1,500 to Lisa Murphy before the termination but eventually gave her nothing.
Meanwhile he launched a cover-up, ordering his PR team to deny the entire story — while Murphy, 39, and friend Violet Smith, 29, were successfully prosecuted for blackmail.
Judge Peter Lodden told Kingston crown court in South West London: “Nobody comes out of this episode very well.”
He accepted Murphy, 39, had been desperate and that Smith, 29, just wanted to help her.
He agreed the pals did not even realise they might be breaking the law and gave them 22-month suspended sentences.
Judge Peter Lodder QC told Murphy: “It’s an understatement to say nobody comes out of this episode very well.
“Danny Cipriani didn’t act according to his early promises.
“Whether that was his own choice or in accordance with advice of PR agency or some other reason is not for me to judge.
“Certainly he doesn’t appear to have fully accepted the extent of your difficulties.
“It’s against that background that decision to go to the newspapers was made.”
He added: “Blackmail is a very serious offence.
“But in my view this is a very exceptional case.”
The court had heard that even some lawyers did not at first think the case constituted blackmail at all.
Murphy befriended Cipriani on Facebook and got pregnant during a romp with the Wasps fly-half at the Penny Hill Park Hotel in Surrey, where an England training camp was held.
Cipriani had been battling to impress boss Stuart Lancaster for a place in England’s 2015 rugby World Cup squad but was later dropped.
Murphy begged him to pay her spiralling bills when she was forced off work following the termination and a cancer scare.
He had “repeatedly” vowed to transfer £1,500 but his messages to her “fell off a cliff” after she had the operation.
The court heard Murphy asked for £5,000 to cover her lost earnings but Cipriani wrote: “I didn’t expect you to ask me to pay for your salary.”
Smith told Murphy she hoped to get £12,000 for the story from The Sun on Sunday but added: “I’m trying to get £15,000 from the publicist.”
The judge said: “I’m satisfied Lisa Murphy was feeling increasingly desperate and was continuing to suffer from the emotional consequence of her condition.”
Turning to Murphy, he added: “Violet Smith was motivated by concern for your well-being.”
Cipriani got his PR advisers and lawyers to insist there was “absolutely no truth” in the “entirely false” story.
He then went to police.
Murphy said she was arrested at her Northampton home at 3.30am.
Bumbling cops had woken her startled mother half-an-hour earlier after going to the wrong address.
Murphy claimed a senior detective in her interview told her: “We have acted quickly because he’s a famous individual and this could damage his reputation.”
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Murphy said she was held at Northampton police station for nearly 12 hours.
Despite being underweight, depressed and on a type of chemotherapy tablet, she claimed she was initially denied medical aid.
When she was finally allowed to see a doctor, they immediately told custody officers she was “very ill” and demanded she be taken from the cells and put somewhere more comfortable.
Murphy said she was slung into the back of a police van and driven to Sutton in South London where she had to wait another five hours before being quizzed.
She said she was eventually bailed at 10.30pm – 100 miles from home, without cash and with her mobile phone confiscated.
In contrast Cipriani was given VIP treatment.
He was spared the “indignity” of having to sit in a waiting room with other witnesses, opting to stay in his luxury 4x4 in a nearby car park.
When he was needed, he was ushered in through a side door.
Prosecutors then decided to pursue the case against Murphy and her lapdancer pal Smith, 29 — who worked with her at a club in Luton, Beds, called Junction 9.
You have been led up the garden path
When The Sun on Sunday first put the allegations about the fling with Murphy and her pregnancy to him, Cipriani ordered his advisers to send emails which said: “There is absolutely no truth in the story”.
They added: “I feel you may have been led up the garden path on this one.”
The judge criticised Cipriani after hearing how his “crisis management” PR adviser Laura Slater had sent him a message saying: “Whatever you do, don’t pay her any money.”
Yet 18 months later all the facts The Sun on Sunday provided to Cipriani have been admitted during two hearings at Kingston crown court.
In the meantime the millionaire has enjoyed roles as a “brand ambassador” for sportswear companies adidas and Canterbury.
He has also pictured himself on social media visiting children’s hospitals and teaching schoolkids, as his team try to craft his image.
Murphy and Smith, both single mothers, were due to stand trial but on Monday changed their pleas when the judge indicated they would not go to prison.
After they admitted blackmail, senior investigating officer Det Sgt Kate Blackburn and other Metropolitan Police officers went to a pub near the court.
Sitting with them in the pub as they sat drinking pints and glasses of prosecco was Laura Slater.
Hannah Duncan, defending Murphy, said: “There are those within the legal profession who didn’t at first think this was blackmail.
“Their actions, when taken separately, were entirely legal.
“People can go to the press in circumstances like this.
“It is not illegal.
“To ask Danny Cipriani for help is not illegal.
“It was entirely justified.”
After the case one solicitor said: “I was thinking about the way he was treated, and it’s grossly unfair.
“There are rape victims, people who have been through serious trauma, who come to the court here, and they aren’t given anywhere near that sort of priority.”
Golden boy to sordid love rat
THE story is just the latest sordid chapter in Cipriani’s transformation from England golden boy to notorious love rat.
In 2008 he cheated on Cheeky Girl girlfriend Monica Irima with transgender model Larissa Summers.
He started dating model Kelly Brook, eight years his senior. They split after two years with her accusing him of cheating and even slipping a Las Vegas lapdancer his phone number when they were on holiday.
Cipriani was linked to women including X Factor winner Alexandra Burke, model Amber Le Bon, stripper Sarah Purnell and actress Jasmine Waltz.
He also dated Katie Price — which came as news to Welsh model Imogen Thomas who thought she was his girlfriend.
Katie dumped Cipriani after finding him in bed with another girl, and later revealed she dubbed him “Danny Chipolata” thanks to his less-thanimpressive manhood.
After a spell in Australia, Cipriani returned to Britain in 2012 and rekindled his romance with Kelly.
In April 2013 Danny was hit by a bus while dashing across a road during a pub crawl in Leeds. Kelly nursed him back to health only to discover he had been cheating on her the whole time.
He had secretly bedded at least six other girls. Model Jemma Henley claimed she twice had sex with Cipriani in Kelly’s bed, while the star was abroad.
Last year he enjoyed a fling with TV’s Kirsty Gallagher. Other women he has been linked with include Love Island’s Sophie Gradon, 90210 actress Jessica Lowndes and Towie stars Chloe Sims and Lauren Pope.