Former Schumacher family security guard arrested in blackmail case

German police have arrested a former security worker for the family of Formula One legend Michael Schumacher in relation to a case of attempted blackmail, prosecutors announced on Friday.

The 52-year-old suspected accomplice of two men already in custody was arrested on Thursday in the town of Wülfrath near Wuppertal, in the western German state of North Rhine-Westphalia.

A large volume of additional evidence was secured, said chief public prosecutor Wolf-Tilman Baumert. The man was described as the possible mastermind of the extortion bid.

In late June, investigators arrested two suspected blackmailers, a 53-year-old and his 30-year-old son, who are already on probation in another case. According to the public prosecutor's office, they possessed private photos of the Schumacher family.

The investigation into how the two men had obtained the photos, which documented the family's private life and immediate surroundings, led to the 52-year-old former security guard.

Schumacher was severely injured in a ski accident at the end of 2013. He has not appeared in public since then.

According to earlier statements by prosecutors, the suspected blackmailers told employees of the family they had files that the Schumachers would not wish to see published.

They are said to have demanded millions of euros, threatening that they would otherwise release the data on the darknet. As proof, they sent some files to the family.

The investigation was initiated following a tip-off from Swiss authorities. According to law-enforcers, "technical measures" revealed that the blackmailers were operating from Wuppertal.

This is not the first attempt to blackmail the family of the former racing driver.

In 2017, a court in the south-western German state of Baden-Württemberg sentenced a 25-year-old man for trying to blackmail Schumacher's wife Corinna Schumacher for €900,000 ($974,000).

The man had threatened that non-payment would result in harm to the couple's children. He later received a suspended 21-month jail sentence.