Merri Rose sent to prison

A TEARY eyed Merri Rose was hugged by her family before being led away to begin three months in jail for attempting to blackmail Premier Peter Beattie.

A TEARY eyed Merri Rose was hugged by her family before being led away to begin three months in jail for attempting to blackmail Premier Peter Beattie.

Ms Rose yesterday pleaded guilty to making a demand with threats on October 30 last year.

At a resumed sentence hearing today, Chief Judge Patsy Wolfe sentenced her to 18 months jail to be suspended after three months.

Rose will spend at least three months behind bars.

A teary-eyed Rose was hugged by her family and friends before being led away to the cells beneath the court.

Outside court, her high-profile lawyer, Terry O'Gorman, said his client would decide whether to lodge an appeal to her sentence within a week.

"Merri is, of course, disappointed at this sentence,'' Mr O'Gorman told reporters.

"We have spent a long time with her in the cell discussing the issue of lodging an appeal."

Chief Judge Wolfe found that Rose had suffered form a major depressive disorder at the time she made the threat.

However she said:  "I do not accept that your judgment was so impaired that you did not know on the day you made the threat or for the three or four days you allowed the threat to continue you did not understand the nature of what you were doing."

Chief Judge Wolfe said Rose must have been aware of the impact of what she had done on the victim, the victim's family, and friends.

"This is a very serious example of the blackmail offence,'' she said.

"As a former minister of the Crown, you were threatening to disclose something pertinent to the victim so that in effect the highest ranking public sector officials, or even the Premier, might act improperly assisting you to get a job you were not equipped for,'' she said.

"The demand in effect was a considerable benefit ... $150,000 per year for five years,'' Chief Judge Wolfe said.

Chief Judge Wolfe said that because of mitigating circumstances, she would keep the actual jail time to a minimum.

She sentenced Rose to 18 months jail suspended after three months with an operational period of 18 months.

The crown had asked Rose be jailed for between three and four years with an actual jail component of six to 12 months.

Rose's lawyers argued she should be given a wholly suspended sentence of between 12 and 18 months.

She had admitted ending a message to Premier Peter Beattie that if she didn't get a high paying job she would release information which would harm a person.

Details of the threat and person have been suppressed.