In cuffs and eight months pregnant, Briton ‘ behind £9m holiday sickness fraud’
A PREGNANT British mother arrived at a Spanish court in handcuffs yesterday accused of being behind a £9million fake holiday sickness scam.
Dressed in a flowing pink dress, mother-of-two Laura Joyce, 37, also known under her maiden name Cameron, was one of five alleged British scammers hauled before a court in Majorca yesterday.
Eight months pregnant, her dramatic appearance in the island’s capital, Palma, came after her home had previously been raided by officers.
She is one of three women and two men, escorted to court by police, who are suspected of running a £9million operation which convinced tourists to pretend they had food poisoning.
Smiling as she was bailed, but stripped of her passport and banned from leaving Majorca, Essex-born Joyce, is understood to have been accused of being the operation’s ringleader.
The five are accused being one part of a sophisticated countrywide scheme, which local authorities claim could have fleeced the nation’s hotel industry out of up to £55million over three years.
Bogus food poisoning scams are prevalent in Spain and earlier this year some hotels said they may turn away British tourists for fear of being fleeced for compensation and blacklist individuals with a history of illness claims.
The scam allegedly saw touts, known in Spain as ‘tiqueteros’, approach holidaymakers outside hotels, urging them to file a claim stating that they had fallen ill on holiday.
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They were told that as well as being reimbursed for the price of their holiday, they could make up to £3,000 in compensation. For each person they convinced to file a claim, touts were paid a fee of £50.
Tourists were told that, in addition to their compensation letter, they had to include a receipt for diarrhoea medicine to prove that they had genuinely been taken ill, Spanish media reported. At court man, yesterday,whose another identity British is unknown but who accompanied the suspects, made a lewd gesture as he left court and took off his shirt before walking away from waiting media.
Two other suspects, British women Tegan Summerlee, 22, originally from Cambridge, and Susan Lyle, 53, were also seen leaving court as well as Peter Murphy, 32. The details of their alleged involvement are not yet known. All five suspects have been made ‘investigados’, a legal term in Spain which means they are under investigation but have not been charged. Joyce, who is well-known on the island for her links to the party industry, denied her part in the scam when asked by local media earlier in the week. The key to her connection is understood to be a black VW Polo car in which compensation touts had been seen driving to hotels, apparently seeking ‘clients’, who would demand damages for falling sick with food poisoning. Police found the car was owned by Spanish-registered firm KLM Ventures – which was run by Joyce. Her Leicester-born husband Stuart Joyce, who witnessed his wife’s arrest on Tuesday, runs Heroes Sports Bar on the island.
None of those who went before the judge has been formally charged, as is normal in Spain, where charges are only laid shortly before trial. Yesterday’s hearing was held in private and press prohibited from entering. Joyce’s mother Debbie Cameron, 59, had been arrested and spent a night behind bars but was released on Wednesday and not asked to attend court yesterday.
The judicial investigation is expected to drag on for several months while the judge decides if anyone should be prosecuted and face trial.