Warning by judge as first couple jailed for holiday bug fraud
A JUDGE yesterday warned holiday sickness fraudsters they would be locked up as he jailed a couple in a landmark case.
Paul Roberts, 43, and partner Deborah Briton, 53, claimed consecutive summer holidays to Majorca with their two teenage children were ruined by stomach bugs.
But the couple’s social media posts boasted of ‘sun, laughter and fun’ and included photos of them having a good time. Briton, a grandmother and mother of four, even later admitted to a travel rep from their hotel that the claims were due to ‘Paul with his dodgy dealings’ before back-tracking and insisting they had been ill.
The scam could have led to Thomas Cook paying out nearly £20,000 for the fake gastric illnesses and a further £28,000 in legal expenses.
Instead the couple sobbed in the dock at Liverpool Crown Court as they were sent down for what Judge David Aubrey, QC, described as a ‘complete sham’.
Roberts was jailed for 15 months and Briton for nine months after they admitted two fraud offences each in the private prosecution brought by Thomas Cook.
It is believed to be the first successful private prosecution in a criminal court for holiday compensation fraud.
In other cases, holidaymakers submitting false claims have been ordered by a judge in the county court to pay the costs of holiday firms.
Yesterday the judge said a message had to go out ‘that such frauds would result in prison sentences’. He told the defendants: ‘You thought it would be easy money.’ But he said the sickness claims ‘were bogus from start to finish’.
He warned: ‘Those who may be tempted to make a dishonest claim in relation to fake holiday sickness, if they are investigated and brought to justice, whatever the circumstances of an individual, he or she must expect an immediate custodial sentence.’
The judge said there had been an ‘explosion in gastric illness claims’ from Britons holidaying abroad.
He added: ‘It has a considerable detrimental impact on all UK holiday travel indus- tries, it has an impact on the reputation of those who holiday abroad and it has an impact on all those who wish to travel abroad honestly and legitimately by the increase in holiday prices.’
Roberts and Briton of Wallasey, Wirral, went on allinclusive holidays to the resort of Calas de Mallorca in June 2015 and 2016, staying at the same hotel each time.
According to her Facebook page Briton had to pay a fine for taking her daughter out of school for the first trip.
Sam Brown, prosecuting, said they submitted a claim against the holiday firm in August last year for damages, citing ‘severe gastric illness’, on behalf of themselves and their teenage children.
He said both knew they ‘would be lying’ in support of the fake claims, made through a solicitor, in letters, forms and questionnaires. They pre- tended to have suffered ‘diarrhoea, stomach cramps, fever, lethargy and nausea’ in food-related illness which ‘ruined’ their holidays two years in a row. They also alleged food at the hotel was left uncovered, served below the required temperature and made complaints about the uncleanliness of the hotel.
In reality the hotel had no problems with food hygiene and never received complaints from the family.
After the 2015 holiday Briton had written on social media: ‘Safely home after two weeks of sun, laughter, fun and tears. Met up with all our lovely holiday friends who made our holiday fab.’
A post after returning from the second holiday read: ‘Back home after a fantastic holiday, my favourite so far. Thanks to our holiday family for being part of it, plenty of memories to treasure.’
Lloyd Morgan, defending Briton, said the unemployed mother with no previous convictions was ‘utterly ashamed’ of the ‘dishonour and disgrace’ she had brought on her family.
Charles Lander, defending Roberts, said the ‘devoted family man’ who had two jobs and worked nights in security is now ‘a broken man’.
Mr Lander said: ‘It was an idea the defendant formed from speaking to others in a pub. He stupidly believed those others who told him he wouldn’t be detected. How wrong he was.’
A Thomas Cook spokesman said outside court the firm took a stand ‘to protect our holidays and our customers from the minority who cheat the system’.
‘Knew they would be lying’