Conman’s £150k Champions League final tickets scam
ADEVIOUS conman duped unsuspecting hotel staff into handing him tickets and hospitality packages worth almost £150,000 ahead of the Champions League final in Cardiff.
Career fraudster Lewis Hudson, 40, targeted one of the most prestigious events ever to be held in Wales and it is believed that he worked with others – who police are still trying to identify – to commit his crimes.
A court heard how over two days he duped reception workers at two separate hotels into handing over packages containing Champions League final tickets worth £60,600 and VIP hospitality tickets worth £84,000.
One interception at the Holiday Inn near Cardiff Airport netted him tickets worth £58,000.
The parcels had all been delivered to the hotels for expectant customers – some of whom had travelled thousands of miles to enjoy the occasion between Real Madrid and Juventus at the Principality Stadium.
Hudson pretended to be a guest to the hotel reception desk and asked if parcels had been delivered for him.
Each time he would give the correct name on the parcel, which investigators believe indicates others may have been involved in the scam.
On one occasion he brazenly stopped to check the contents of a parcel confirming with the hotel worker that “everything’s there” and saying “thank you” before leaving through a back door.
Hudson, from Manchester, was identified following an anonymous tip-off after a media appeal using stills from hotel CCTV.
Two months later he was arrested by Northamptonshire Police at the Silverstone racetrack when event staff there became suspicious that he was selling tickets.
The 40-year-old, who has 29 previous convictions for fraud, was jailed for 20 months at Cardiff Crown Court after pleading guilty to two counts of fraud by false representation.
Detective Constable Gillon Neal said: “Lewis Hudson is a career conman who travelled to south Wales looking to cash in on a fortune, regardless of the consequences that it could have had for so many people.
“It was fraud on a big scale but, luckily, thanks to the contingencies put in place by Uefa, those who had tickets stolen could still enjoy what they came for.
“Using the hotels’ CCTV we were able to pick out who was responsible and share good-quality stills with the media – he was quickly identified and in August he was caught, this time at Silverstone.”
He added: “Conmen like him are able to make huge sums of money but they are motivated by a thriving black market fuelled by people who let nothing get in the way of seeing their favourite music act or sports team and are willing to get their hands on a ticket wherever it has come from.
“I would urge buyers to think twice about what they are doing and to consider the consequences that their unscrupulous buying has upon those who have had tickets stolen.”