A 27-year-old call centre worker has gone on trial accused of blackmailing a Muslim woman by threatening to show embarrassing photographs to her family and other people in the community.

The woman, who can only be identified as Miss X, sent the photographs to Anbar Nasar's mobile phone at a time when he was suggesting they were going to be married.

Bradford Crown Court heard yesterday that the woman was undressed in four of the 11 pictures and that Nasar had told her he would delete the images once he had looked at them. But prosecutor John Topham alleged that in June last year their relationship took a sinister turn when Nasar revealed he had kept the images and wanted £5,000 for them.

Mr Topham said Nasar threatened to show the images to the woman's family and she told the court how he also said he would make copies and send them to a mosque and restaurants.

The woman said she had gone to her bank to arrange a loan of £5,000, but she never took out the cash.

Nasar, of Middleton Avenue, Derby, is being tried in his absence after pleading not guilty to the blackmail charge.

When he was questioned by police Nasar admitted making the threats and the demand for £5,000, but he claimed it was only to break the woman's heart.

He suggested he had sent a text to the victim saying he didn't mean it, but Mr Topham told the jury that no such text had been found.

Mr Topham said: "It is a case of a genuine attempt by him to get money from her with menaces.'' The trial continues.