Michael Schumacher blackmail plot 'mastermind' is arrested by German police and revealed to be former family security guard

Police have arrested the suspected 'mastermind' in a plot to blackmail the family of former Formula 1 world champion Michael Schumacher, German media reports.

The man is a 52-year-old who has worked as a security guard for the family, the public prosecutor's office in Wuppertal said.

It comes after the arrest of two other suspects - a 53-year-old father, named only as Yilmaz T, and his 30-year-old son - on June 19.

The pair allegedly claimed to have sensitive files containing images of the F1 legend after his near-fatal skiing crash in 2013, telling the Schumacher family they 'would not want (the pictures) published'.

They demanded 15 million euros in return for not sharing the photos, Bild reports, and are said to have promised the former security guard a commission. 

The two men transferred 'individual files' to the family to show they had access to documents about the F1 star, investigators claim. 

A senior prosecutor in Wuppertal confirmed to German media that a preliminary evaluation of data sets obtained in searches of the bouncer's apartment contained 'photos relating to the Schumacher family's private life'. 

During the investigation into where the two men got the photos from, police managed to identify the third suspect, according to reports.

The 52-year-old man was arrested on to be arrested in the town of Wülfrath in western Germany.

His role is alleged to have been converting private pictures of the family into digital form in order to transfer them to Yilmaz T and his son.  

German investigators were tipped off about the blackmail plot by authorities in Switzerland, where Schumacher has been cared for at the family home since the accident. 

'Technical measures' made it possible to trace the alleged extortionists to Wuppertal, prosecutors said.

The two suspects, who were on probation in another case, were arrested by police on June 19 in a supermarket parking lot in Gross-Gerau, south of Frankfurt.

Authorities searched eight properties, as well as the main residences of the two men, seizing 'several data storage devices'. 

'Extensive investigations' into the case were still ongoing, they said. 

If convicted, the suspects face a prison sentence of up to five years, the prosecutors added.

Schumacher, who is considered one of the best F1 drivers of all time, has not been seen in public since he suffered a serious brain injury in a brutal skiing accident in the French Alps in 2013.

The seven-time world champion driver had a freak fall just metres away from a popular ski slope that resulted in critical head injuries less than a year after retiring from the sport.

His wife Corinna, whom he married in 1995, has insisted on total secrecy over his condition since.