Majorca food poisoning ‘scam’ cost hotels £10m

THE holiday food poisoning scam allegedly organised by a heavily pregnant British mother is said to have raked in up to £10 million from tour operators and hotels.

Laura Joyce, 37, was photographed being led into a court in Majorca in handcuffs after a raid on her family home on the island.

Mrs Joyce, who runs a bar and nightclub, is suspected of running a scam that hotel owners claim cost them up to £10 million. Spanish investigators suspect that a team of touts organised by Mrs Joyce targeted British holidaymakers in Majorca, inducing them to make bogus compensation claims for food poisoning.

Mrs Joyce’s passport was confiscated before she was released from custody pending further inquiries.

Mrs Joyce, who ran a notorious bar crawl in Magaluf before opening her own nightclub in the resort, told a local newspaper that linked her to the fake food poisoning scandal ahead of her arrest that she was innocent of any wrongdoing.