A man has been jailed for stealing more than £400,000 from victims of a worldwide ‘cruise miles’ fraud.
Richard Lester, from Luton, was sentenced to a total of five years in prison at Chelmsford Crown Court on Tuesday following a decade-long investigation.
Lester stole £402,540.29 from 184 people over three years.
More than 180 victims were identified over the months and years an investigation by Essex Police developed. They were found in the UK, US, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, France, Germany and Japan.
Lester ran a website which sold the ‘miles’ and listed the cruises victims could choose from.
As the scam ran on Lester repeatedly increased the number of miles needed to book the cruises, but no cruise was booked by his company for the vast majority people, police found.
Some only discovered this when they turned up at ports for holidays and were turned away by cruise lines.
Police were first made aware of Lester in 2013 when reports were received about a suspicious business selling ‘cruise miles’ – vouchers that supposedly entitled customers to cruises at discounted rates.
PC Leanne Smith, who has been investigating Lester’s company since 2014, said: “While it is important justice has been served and Lester has reached sentencing, the impact on his victims is much greater and for some is ongoing to this day.
“The financial cost for victims was into the thousands of pounds, which Lester frittered away to support his own lifestyle.
“Despite the years of work by the force and the mounting number of people coming forward to accuse him, he refused to accept his guilt.
“That decision left him facing the strength of the case we made in court, and the jury were left with no doubt he was guilty.
“Despite Lester’s efforts to cover his tracks we showed he was using multiple bank accounts to move his victim’s money, but it all ultimately remained in his control.
“This has been a large and complex investigation, with officers gathering dozens of statements from victims.”