Michael Schumacher hard drive including secret photos at centre of £12m blackmail plot 'missing'

The case centres around allegations that the family's former security guard, identified as 'Markus F', and two accomplices threatened to leak sensitive personal materials relating to the seven-time world champion.

The trial at Wuppertal District Court is examining serious allegations of attempted blackmail against the Schumacher family.

The former security guard, known only as 'Markus F', is accused alongside two alleged collaborators of threatening to release private materials unless a substantial payment was made.

The defendants reportedly demanded £12million in exchange for keeping the sensitive information private.

The case has taken a significant turn with the revelation that a hard drive, believed to contain intimate photographs and medical documentation of the Formula 1 champion, cannot be located.

According to court documents, the alleged blackmailers threatened to expose a range of private materials belonging to the F1 legend.

The sensitive content included private videos of the racing champion, along with confidential medical documents.

The alleged perpetrators also threatened to release Schumacher's personal patient file, which would have represented a serious breach of medical privacy.

The exact nature and extent of the materials contained on the now-missing hard drive remain unclear as the trial continues.

All three of the accused face potential prison sentences if they are convicted.

Schumacher has been kept away from public life ever since his near-fatal skiing accident in 2013.

He was placed in a medically induced coma and underwent a brain operation before reportedly waking up eight months later.

His wife Corinna has since kept a tight-knit inner circle to avoid information about her husband's condition leaking to the public.

Reports in Germany this summer suggested Schumacher was present for the wedding of his daughter, Gina, in a private ceremony.