Team leaders took airline for a ride in £40,000 fraud, court hears

TICKET FOR NEWCASTLE PLAYER RAISED THE ALARM

Glen Rankin A FIRST-class plane ticket for a Newcastle United player helped expose a £40,000 fraud by two team leaders at British Airways.

Glen Rankin and Elisha Oliver had given out flights using the internationally-renowned company’s “goodwill budget” and allocated air miles to accounts without justification, then pocketed money paid by customers.

The year-long scam was uncovered when a colleague reported her suspicions to a business manager after noticing that the footballer’s flight to Qatar had been paid from the goodwill budget.

A investigation revealed 33 fraudulent transactions had been made which involved flights being booked using the goodwill budget to upgrade and pay for flights, which were also subsidised using air miles.

Newcastle Crown Court heard the cash was paid into Rankin’s account and he then passed on a share of it to Oliver.

The pair admitted two charges of conspiracy to defraud, between January 1, 2015, and January 7, 2016, which cost the company a total of £40,093.

Now Rankin, 49, of William Morris Terrace, Shotton Colliery, County Durham, who made £20,000 and Oliver, 32, of Victoria Road East, Hebburn, who made Elisha Oliver £12,630, have been given suspended prison sentences.

Recorder Margia Mostafa told them: “This was a gross breach of trust.”

The judge added: “You were both working as team leaders and had been for some time, a position of responsibility within British Airways, a very good job to have.

“On January 7, 2016, a member of staff brought your suspicious activity to the attention of a business manager and what happened on that occasion was a booking had been made for a Newcastle United football player to travel first-class to Doha, in Qatar, with payments coming out of the goodwill budget, that should not have been used by either of you.”

The court heard an internal investigation was carried out and discovered air miles had been awarded to accounts, without justification, using Oliver’s log-in details.

Oliver, who had been off sick and could not have used her own log-in details during some of the transactions, was interviewed by bosses and resigned two days later. A more detailed investigation followed and revealed Rankin had used his work station to log in with Oliver’s details and book flights which were paid for from the goodwill budget.

The judge added: “What they were able to recover, from looking at your bank accounts, was that you, Mr Rankin, received £32,000 in cash as a result of those passengers who had received the benefits, making payments to you. Then £12,630 was passed on by transfer to Miss Oliver.”

Rankin, who the judge said was the “controlling mind” in the fraud, was sentenced to two years’ imprisonment, suspended for two years, with 150 hours’ unpaid work and a six-month night time curfew plus programme requirements.

Oliver, who is now heavily pregnant and who the judge said played a “subsidiary role”, was sentenced to 20 months’ imprisonment, suspended for two years, with a five-month night time curfew.

The court heard Rankin had a gambling problem at the time and “possibly an addiction to alcohol” but he admitted the offences straight away and has new, responsible employment.

His barrister said he has a “high level of remorse” for his involvement.

Brian Hegarty, defending, said Oliver has had a lot of involvement in voluntarily raising cash for charities.