Mum booked into hotels but left without paying
A WOMAN from Gotham who skipped the bill after staying at some of the best rural hotels in Leicestershire said she needed to get away from her son.
Alison Munsey, of Gladstone Avenue, Gotham, checked into six hotels across Leicestershire, Rutland and Derbyshire - including The Old Boot Garden Cottages in Long Whatton, near Loughborough - over the school summer holidays after acting as full-time carer for her son left her sleepless and anxious.
But being on benefits, the 50-year-old could not afford to pay the bills and having booked in under a fake name she simply drove off without paying each time.
In total she avoided paying £1,868 during the four stays in Leicestershire and Rutland.
At the Michelin-listed Olive Branch in Clipsham, Rutland, in July she ran up a bill of £1,028 over two nights – including an extra cost for fresh flowers in her room - but fled without paying.
At Leicester Magistrates Court on Friday (November 24), having admitted two counts of fraud and two counts of making off without paying, she was given a conditional discharge and ordered to pay half of what she owned to each of the Leicestershire and Rutland businesses.
The court heard she had already been sentenced to a community order at Derby Magistrates Court for the two Der- byshire frauds and her appearance in Leicester related to stays at the Olive Branch, The Old Boot Garden Cottages in Long Whatton, near Loughborough, the Old White Hart in Lyddington, Rutland, and the Fox and Hounds in Exton, Rutland.
The Olive Branch in Clipsham was named Leicestershire and Rutland Dining Pub of the Year in the Good Pub Guide 2017.
During the stay in Exton in June she tried to extend her two-night stay and was told to pay up front.
But after telling staff she’d pay after lunch she drank two gin and tonics – charged to her room - then slipped out at 11.30am without paying a penny of the £227 bill.
After her arrest, Munsey, who has 22 previous convictions for fraud, was found to have key cards from various hotels in her home in Gladstone Avenue, Gotham, Nottinghamshire.
Her solicitor Helen Nicholson told the court: “It’s quite clearly not a straightforward case in terms of her personal mitigation.
“She got to a point when the respite care for her son had been withdrawn.
“Her son attends a special needs school and these offences were committed over the summer holidays when she was with him 24/7.
“She committed these offences out of desperation.
“Despite all her self-referrals and referrals from her doctor, social care were saying they didn’t have the funds to assist her.
“This was her way out, essentially. Getting a night away so she could get some sleep.”
After hearing that Munsey was cooperating with her community order received for the two Derbyshire offences, the bench of magistrates decided to punish her with a conditional discharge, while also ordering that £514 be withdrawn from her benefits over the coming months to partly repay the businesses affected.
Chairman of the bench Philip Woolnough told her: “Compensation is being asked for and we have decided you will pay half of the money outstanding.
“We give you a conditional discharge for two years.
“Any more trouble like this and you will be brought back and it will get very serious.
“You’ve got to keep a clean sheet for at least two years.”