A new investigation has been launched in Germany over the alleged involvement of a former nurse of Michael Schumacher in a failed plot to blackmail the F1 legend’s family.

Schumacher’s family were the target of an alleged blackmail attempt earlier this year with a former security guard of the legendary racing driver, Markus Fritsche, arrested along with two accomplices, Yilmaz Tozturkan, a nightclub bouncer, and his son.

Michael Schumacher’s former nurse accused of involvement in failed blackmail plot

The trio are charged with attempting to extort €15million by threatening to publish 900 images and 583 videos of Schumacher, who has not been seen in public since suffering severe brain injuries in a skiing accident in December 2013.

Schumacher’s family have been fiercely protective of the 55-year-old’s privacy since the incident, with the exact nature of Schumacher’s condition unknown to the public.

The material purports to show Schumacher – who, according to prosecutor Daniel Muller, is “partly helpless, in need of care [and] visibly marked” by his injuries – in a hospital bed, in a wheelchair, partially dressed and attached to medical equipment, as well as private images of Schumacher before his accident.

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Prosecutor Muller claimed that the images could only have emerged from a so-called ‘care computer’, which can only be accessed by nurses, therapists and doctors and has no connection to the internet.

On trial in Wuppertal last week, Tozturkan, 53, confessed that he received the files on two hard drives from Fritsche, 52, whom he has known for 25 years.

Tozturkan revealed that he proceeded to download the files on to four USB sticks, with his son creating a supposedly untraceable email address with which he could contact Schumacher’s family. Tozturkan claimed that his son had no further involvement in the blackmail plot.

Tozturkan, who admitted he was motivated by “greed for money”, told the court: “I did this s**t.”

Put to him that he could have given the files to the family’s lawyer or dropped them through their letterbox, he replied: “You’re right, that would have the best way. I thought I could earn a bit of money with the story.”

Tozturkan claimed security guard Fritsche initially came into possession of the files from Schumacher’s former nurse, who needed money after being sacked by the family, with the plan to split the money between Tozturkan, Fritsche and the nurse.

Sabine Kehm, Schumacher’s long-serving manager, told the court that she held suspicions about the 30-year-old nurse, who ceased to work with the Schumacher family in late 2020 and has not been named.

The nurse was summoned to appear as a witness on the first day of the trial, but did not show up.

Kehm said: “She was fired due to problems with the care performance.”

She added: “We had problems with her, we had problems with the way the care was provided. We saw unpleasant things. First she left, then he [Fritsche] left.”

Asked why the nurse has not also been charged, prosecutor Muller said this was the first time she has been implicated in the plot so clearly.

Tozturkan’s lawyer, Oliver Doelfs, noted witnesses in court testifying that Fritsche and the nurse “were very close and seemed to have a closer relationship than what one could call a collaborative relationship.”

Fritsche’s lawyer offered an alternative version of events, claiming he had worked as a personal and property guard for the Schumacher family for eight years between 2012 and 2020.

He claimed Fritsche also handled the Schumacher family’s IT, creating digital versions of private photographs and repairing the care computer on one occasion.

The lawyer denied that Fritsche had copied any files, claiming instead that his apartment on the Schumacher family estate had been ransacked and a hard drive had disappeared.

The case involving Fritsche, Tozturkan and his son will resume on December 23.

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