British mother and daughter held over food poison racket
TWO British women have been arrested in Mallorca over an alleged £4million fake food poisoning racket, it was revealed yesterday.
Deborah Cameron, 59, and her daughter Laura Joyce, 28, were among seven suspects held in a major police operation.
They face questions over claims for compensation by tourists who say they fell ill after eating at hotels on the holiday island.
Court papers revealed the alleged fraud concerns claims received last year from tourists who had stayed at the three-star Club Mac resort in Alcudia.
The hotel group has challenged 273 applications for compensation involving 797 holidaymakers.
Cameron and Joyce are suspected of being major players. According to sources, they allegedly hired middlemen to entice British holidaymakers into fabricating or embellishing symptoms of gastric illness to get compensation.
The pair were held on Tuesday in a Civil Guard operation centred on the island’s Calvia district which includes the resort town Magaluf and the capital Palma.
Most of the searches are understood to have taken place in the glamorous marina of Puerto Portals and the exclusive residential area of Bendinat.
The seven suspects are expected to appear at a court in Palma today. In a recent internet post, marketing company boss Cameron described her “fantastic” lifestyle in Mallorca. Joyce was born in Essex and moved to Spain with her family when she was three.
A well-placed source said: “The arrests have followed months of investigation by the Civil Guard following complaints from hoteliers. A wealth of material including computers and documents have been seized and is being analysed by experts.”
Fake food poisoning claims is believed to be costing the Spanish hotel industry £50million a year.