Family busted for attempted Thomas Cook extortion

A British couple will face court for allegedly extorting $87,000 in compensation, based on false claims of food-poisoning while holidaying.

In what is set to be a landmark court case, Deborah Briton, 53, and Paul Roberts, 43, are being tried in court for allegedly lying about getting sick with food poisoning on an all-inclusive Thomas Cook holiday in Majorca, Spain.

Briton’s daughter also tried to claim compensation for ‘food poisoning’ on a holiday last year with her own young daughter.

So what was the big ruse for? To try and extort £52,000 (AU$87,000) in compensation claims from Thomas Cook, according to news.com.au.

The couple, along with Deborah’s daughter, Charlene Briton, 30, appeared in Liverpool’s Magistrates court and pleaded not guilty to six counts of fraud.

According to news.com.au, the District Court Judge, Andrew Shaw, ordered the case to be heard in a crown court, stating that the allegations of the defendants were “sophisticated fraud with relatively high value of money claimed”.

He granted the defendants unconditional bail until the pre-trial hearing commences on August 10. They could face jail time of up to six years if convicted, per news.

It will be the first court case regarding false compensation claims for sickness on holiday, despite news.com.au reporting that in the last year alone, claims of between AU$5000 and AU$8400 have been made by tens of thousands of Brits, even though resorts maintain low levels of reported sickness. 

Last month, UK’s largest travel association ABTA began campaigning to stop the rise in holiday claims. They suggest introducing legislation that caps legal fees, as it is one of the major causes for the surge in holiday sickness claims.

It hopes to warn holidaymakers that they could face harsh penalties, even jail time, for making false compensation claims for holiday sickness.