A man has appeared in court accused of blackmailing dozens of teenage girls around the world with naked images and videos that they shared with him online.

One of Aydin C.’s alleged victims was Amanda Todd, a Canadian who took her own life at the age of 15 after being tormented for years by a man who had a photo of her.

Although Amanda’s family moved house several times, the blackmailer managed to track her down and renew his campaign of intimidation. He sent her messages via chatrooms such as: ‘I’ve sent the photo to 280 people. Hope you enjoy this nightmare.’

The Dutch courts have already ruled that C. can be extradited to Canada to face charges there once his trial in the Netherlands has finished.

Canadian police launched an investigation following Amanda’s death and found that teenagers in other countries had been the victims of similar messages. Among them was a 14-year-old Norwegian girl who received a chat message from ‘Tyler C.’ stating: ‘This is for the rest of your life.’

Police were unable to identify the perpetrator on that occasion, but Norwegian police traced the message to a holiday park in the Netherlands. Dutch police initially did not follow up the tip, but later discovered that Aydin C. had a bungalow on the same park.

The 38-year-old was arrested at his home in Tilburg as part of an investigation into a fraud case. Police tapped his computer and discovered he was contacting young girls through online chat programmes such as Habbo Hotel, approaching as many as 70 in the space of five minutes.

C. has denied any involvement in online blackmail and notified the court through his lawyer that he will exercise his right to silence.

The trial is expected to last until February 15.