Travel fraud BOASTED of celeb LIFESTYLE
‘Fantasist’ took pass codes to book holidays worth more than £40,000
A FANTASIST who boasted of a celebrity lifestyle and his connections to counter-terrorism and the military went on extravagant holidays worth tens of thousands of pounds after stealing computer pass codes from travel agents, a court has heard.
A FANTASIST who boasted of a celebrity lifestyle and his connections to counter-terrorism and the military went on extravagant holidays worth tens of thousands of pounds after stealing computer pass codes from travel agents, a court has heard.
Adam Griffiths and a friend flew business class to Dubai and stayed in the seven-star Burj Al Arab hotel on one of his fraudulent freebies. Griffiths has also claimed to work for “private military contractors” fighting so-called Islamic State.
He said he was involved with counter-terrorism work and had connections with Scotland Yard.
In fact he lived in a council flat in Swansea.
He also has convictions for impersonating a police officer, and in 2014 claimed to have caught the deadly disease Ebola while travelling in Africa.
A judge described the 30-year-old as a “Walter Mitty character” – a reference to the James Thurber novel about a man who lives a fantasy life.
Swansea Crown Court heard that during May and June last year Adams was a regular visitor at the Tui travel agents in the city’s Quadrant shopping centre.
Carina Hughes, prosecuting, said Griffiths became known as something of a “time-waster” among staff for going in, boasting about his lifestyle of exotic holidays, celebrity friends and private jets, but never actually booking any holidays.
However, during one such visit he managed to get hold of some staff computer pass codes, and used them online to book almost £39,500 worth of trips.
He also visited the independent Swansea travel agents Burgess Travel in June, where he was again able to get hold of pass codes – in this case he ran up a £5,500 bill.
Miss Hughes said that one of the holidays he fraudulently booked involved him and a friend taking a “very extravagant” trip, which saw them fly business class to the exclusive seven-star Burj Al Arab hotel in Dubai.
Griffiths would also post photographs on social media apparently showing a globe-trotter living a Champagne lifestyle.
His travel frauds came to light when the invoice for the holiday booked with the Burgess code arrived at the firm’s Kingsway office – and staff realised they had not booked it.
Griffiths was arrested on September 5 and gave a no comment interview – but police found photos of his holidays on his phone.
Griffiths, of Jeffrey’s Court, Penlan, Swansea, had previously pleaded guilty to three counts of fraud when he appeared in the dock for sentencing.
The court heard he had 16 previous convictions for 28 offences including ones for violence, possession of Class A drugs, dishonesty, and public order matters.
Among his convictions are three for impersonating police officers.
Andrew Evans, for Griffiths, said a psychiatrist had concluded his client was not suffering from any diagnosable psychiatric disorder, but it may be that he had “self-worth” issues.
He said Griffiths came from a family with “criminogenic tendencies”, and had had a “difficult background” – and it was perhaps this that had led him to create a persona of somebody who was to be admired and respected.
Referring to the trip to Dubai, he said the person Griffiths had taken with him was somebody he had befriended on a bus.
When they got to the exclusive hotel they found the room was only on a bed and breakfast basis, and they didn’t have any money to participate in the holiday.
In the end Griffths’ travelling companion had to ring his mum and ask for money to be sent so they could get home.
He added that is client “feels a desperate need to be accepted” and to be an authority figure or even a heroic figure.
Judge Geraint Walters described the case as “most unusual” and “disturbing”.
He said Griffiths was “something of a Walter Mitty character” who lived a persona far removed from the reality of his real life.
He said he could not claim to fully understand what was going on in the defendant’s mind, but to him it seemed the defendant’s insecurity led him to need admiration from others and to “go to very extravagant lengths in order to impress”.
Giving the defendant a 25% discount for his guilty pleas the judge sentenced him to a total of two-anda-half years in prison.
The judge also made a Proceeds of Crime Act order against Griffiths – the benefit figure from his wrong-going was stated to be £44,220.90 but he has no available assets so a nominal £1 confiscation order was made.