Police Support Officer Jailed Over Gatwick Money Scam Gets Longer Sentence Than Thieving Politicians
THE most effective crimes are the simplest.
A police community support officer who conned air passengers out of thousands of pounds was told she will be separated from her baby as she was jailed for six-and-a-half years today. Alexis Scott told travellers departing from Gatwick that they could not take more than £1,000 in cash out of the country and even held out her hat for them to deposit money.
That is simply brilliant. Softened up by militaristic airport checks, warnings and fear, the uniform needs only ask one more thing: hand over your cash or be detained. Compliance is all.
The scam earned her £13,500.
Scott, 39, was told by the judge:
“You preyed on [victims’] lack of sophistication and panic.”
Which is pretty much how authourity works, no?
“This is a case about an official PCSO using her uniform and her status to commit serious criminal offences herself. It is an exceptional and very unusual case. The implication is upon the police, the public trust and the international reputation of this country. People from other parts of the world find themselves being fleeced by a police officer. If that’s the impression that people leaving this country go away with then that’s a very serious matter.”
So. The punishment?
She got six-and-a-half years for misconduct in a public office, and two-and-a-half-year terms for each of the six counts of theft, to run concurrently.
Six years for robbing the cash.
That’s a lot:
Ex-Labour MP David Chaytor was jailed for 18 months for fraudulently claiming more than £20,000 in expenses. Jim Devine was jailed for 16 months for claiming more than £8,000.
Ex-environment minister Elliot Morley was sent to Ford open prison for fiddling to the tune of £30,000. Eric Illsley was released after just four months of a year-long sentence and claimed he was a “scapegoat”.
MP Margaret Moran was spared prison and given a supervision order instead. None of the imprisoned MPs has returned to politics
Lord Taylor of Warwick was sent down for 12 months after claiming more than £11,000 from the taxpayer.
And Moran:
Former MP Margaret Moran has been given a two-year supervision order by a court after falsely claiming more than £53,000 in expenses.
A judge had ruled the ex-Labour MP for Luton South was unfit to stand trial for mental health reasons and so could not receive a criminal conviction.
It turns out that you get more for robbing a foreigner than you do for robbing your own.
Who knew?
PS – the taxpapery picked up the bill. Sussex police paid Scott’s victims £15,000.
Posted: 26th, September 2014 | In: Money, Reviews Comment | TrackBack | Permalink
