Melbourne resident Jake Della-Vedova has been jailed for trying to blackmail a public figure to the tune of $15,000. Della-Vedova filmed the ‘encounter’ and started to send text messages to the mystery ‘victim’ threatening to make the video public unless he was paid.

So who is the closet dwelling MP leading  a secret gay life whilst married with a wife and kids?

My search for answers started off at VexNews, specifically their article “Caught on tape by Jake the snake: Who is the mystery male married MP with kids who cheated on his wife with a young gay lover?”

The article itself didn’t reveal anything but the comments, despite being moderated probably revealed more then they should have. Some pointed to the rather obvious (but due to his public image probably not likely, The Australian states Jake was blackmailing a “prominent Victorian”) Chris Pyne, some made humorous links to other MPs and then there was Craig Langdon.

Now there seems to be some inconsistency in how VexNews are moderating their comments as some comments are unmoderated containing the words Ivanhoe and Langdon, whereas others are censored with [deleted] in their place.

To test this I posted a comment of my own and sure enough ‘Langdon’ was censored. Having a look at one of VexNews’ other stories comments, they admit to censoring posts that mention the victim’s name.

Posted by Anonymous | March 1, 2009, 22:46;

Moderation of comments now??? [VEXNEWS: When they mention the suppressed victim's name, yes]

Did they know something the rest of us didn’t? Apparently they are not alone and the victim’s name has been made known at least once, albeit behind closed doors.

On page 2 of a column “Spry spray? Silk stays silent” for the Age, ‘TheHeckler’ writes;

A PHALANX of hacks descended on the County Court last week, seeking juicy details of a gay sex video extortion case. Judge Lisa Hannan tried desperately to keep the identity of the high-profile blackmail victim secret, suppressing for 10 years “any identification of his current employment, or any elected position he may hold or may have held”.

Having established these elaborate precautions to guard the name of the victim, the judge then asked her associate to stand up and arraign the accused on the charge of blackmail. And then, to the collective astonishment of the court, the associate read out the victim’s name.

So the name had been dropped inside a courtroom, by a member of the court no less. To judge whether or not VexNews’ authority on the topic had any weight behind it, all that was needed now was something linking them with the courtroom.

Sure enough in the article “Will they jail Jake the Snake” Andrew Landeryou confirms a court presence;

In a manner highly pleasing to the VEXNEWS editorial board, Jake the Snake’s barrister Mr Trevor Edwin Wraight specifically complained to the court of cruel media coverage “particularly on the internets(sic) where my client was referred to as ‘Jake the Snake.’” Our representative in court beamed with pride.

At this stage we have a name being actively though inconsistently censored on a website, the knowledge that a name has been dropped in court as well as confirmation that said website has a court representative in regards to this story.

There’s even a dubious Wikipedia entry for Langdon stating that “He was a social worker before entering politics, working closely with teen males”. Well, that was more then enough for me to start investigating this Mr. Langdon.

All I knew about the ‘victim’ thus far was that it was a male member of Victorian Parliament, that he was married and was shifty enough to lead a homosexual double life and was probably not famous enough to be recognised by anybody in the state but high enough that people cared if it got out.

My first port of call was Craig Langdon’s website profile which states that he is from Melbourne, Victoria and is  married with 4 children. Check on married and check on with kids. What else was out there?

If Langdon is indeed the mystery MP, let’s just say that his politics seem to be as clean as his social life. PTTUA has an interesting article on their website;

“The Public Transport Users Association (PTUA) has slammed Ivanhoe Labor MP Craig Langdon’s call for a freeway between Bulleen and Greensborough. This recent move by Langdon comes despite multiple promises that he would resign if this freeway were ever constructed.”

Promises by Craig Langdon to resign were made at three public meetings in 2001 and 2002, and repeated in Parliament. Mr Langdon was adamant that the construction of EastLink would not result in a freeway from Bulleen to Greensborough.

Mr. Langdon seemed to be no stranger to public controversy. There was bitchiness incident, as reported by Leader Newspaper:

STATE Labor MP Craig Langdon has denied allegations he attempted to run over a Banyule councillor’s son after casting his vote in the council election at The Centre Ivanhoe last night.

In a statement to the Leader today, Mr Langdon admitted to calling Cr Mulholland a “stupid cow’’ and a “bitch’’.

Also, back in 2005 there was a piece in The Age outlining a call for an investigation into “inappropriate conduct”.

The Bracks Government has refused to commit to an investigation into one of its own MPs, who has been accused by a Labor local councillor of inappropriate conduct in the lead-up to a mayoral election.

Banyule councillor Sean Rawson wrote to the Government last year, urging an inquiry into what he claimed was inappropriate conduct by Ivanhoe Labor MP Craig Langdon in the lead-up to the Banyule mayoral election.

In his letter, Cr Rawson accused Mr Langdon of trying to pressure him into dropping a defamation action he had taken against the MP, in return for political support in his attempt to become Banyule mayor.

Cr Rawson, who worked in Mr Langdon’s electoral office for five years, took the defamation action after an “acrimonious dispute” that resulted in his resignation in September.

The inaction has prompted two Banyule city councillors to draft an extraordinary motion, which – if approved by a majority of councillors – would call on the State Government to consider setting up an independent commission against corruption.

Craig Langdon's photo might also explain why so little money was demanded by Jake

I wonder what exactly an “acrimonious dispute” involves between two males enough so that one of them feels the need to resign and file for defamation. Between saying you’d resign if a freeway was built, and then calling for said freeway to be built, calling women bitchy cows and blurring the lines of corruption for personal gain, secret sexual encounters with homosexual men would on the surface appear to fit right in.

Now obviously I have as much authority as a rubber duster when it comes to this particular story and in no way am suggesting with any certainty that Langdon is in any way involved in this case.

Unfortunately Judge Lisa Hannan has placed a 10 year suppression order on the MP in question so for at least another 10 years your guess is as good as mine as to who the actual involved Victorian MP might be. You have to admit, with all the publicly available information flying around the internet… well, you can’t help but at least think about it, can you; everyone loves a good public mystery.

I just feel sorry for the wife and kids in question of the mysterious cheater, they probably have no idea.

There is one thing I can say with certainty though. If Jake had of remained incognito about the sexual encounters and dragged it out for two years, this would have made for an absolute corker of a precedent case to test our new “mistress laws” that came into effect yesterday.

What a shame.


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