Holiday pair whose web snaps exposed food poison scam
A JUDGE has warned a couple they could be jailed for falsely claiming they fell ill with food poisoning on holiday in Turkey despite posting pictures online of themselves enjoying meals.
The scam by bodybuilders Leon Roberts, 37, and Jade Muzoka, 27, could have cost holiday firm TUI £50,000, a court heard.
They discontinued their claims before a penny was paid out but the company chose to prosecute and the pair pleaded guilty to fraud by false representation.
They are awaiting sentence, but district judge Jonathan Taaffe told them at Southern Derbyshire Magistrates Court: ‘It would fly in the face of common sense to regard this as an isolated incident. It is a real problem in Great Britain and has a real impact on those who make genuine claims, and puts those who do suffer illness on holiday under suspicion.
‘This encourages a tsunami of false claims. All options are open and this is a serious case. It may be that a custodial sentence will follow to show the importance of your wrongdoing.’
The court was told Roberts and Muzoka, who both live in Derby but are no longer together, spent a week at the luxury Cornelia Diamond Golf Resort and Spa in Belek in July 2015.
Days after returning home they posted 79 photos on Facebook boasting about their sunshine holiday, showing them drinking, dining on steak and chips and sushi, and lounging by the pool.
The following April they submitted claims through their solicitor saying they both fell ill during their time away.
They claimed to have been bedridden with vomiting and diarrhoea, but investigators discovered the online photographs. Tim Hunter, prosecuting for TUI, said: ‘Their social media entries made it plain they’d had a good time.
‘But in April of the following year they claimed for damages against TUI claiming they both suffered illness because of the food they consumed.
‘That was false and they did it deliberately trying to make a benefit for themselves.’
Roberts and Muzoka, who have a child together, discontinued their claims at a later date. But Mr Hunter said a claims investigator for TUI estimated that had the claim been successful the total loss to the firm could have been in the region of £50,000 – or £25,000 for each of them. Defence solicitors for both Roberts and Muzoka questioned that the figure would have been anywhere near as high.
Nicola Hunter, for Muzoka, said: ‘She was sick on holiday but just not to the extent that had been reported.
‘She went back to work and reported it to one of her colleagues who said to her ‘‘do you realise you can claim for that?’’
‘It was an exaggerated claim put forward by letter and they [TUI] checked by looking on Facebook and have seen there was evidence of two people that appeared to have a good holiday with no mention of having any illness.’ The case was adjourned for pre-sentence reports.
‘They’d had a good time’