A former director of On The Beach was unmasked on Thursday as a “cold-hearted” conman who swindled friends and family in a hoax dream holiday scam to fund his own jet-set lifestyle.
Johnny Pollard (50) used his status as a travel expert to filch £32,125 from 22 victims for non-existent trips to countries such as Australia, Dubai, Mexico and South Africa between 2016 and 2017.
At Minshull Street Crown Court, Pollard from Prestwich, Manchester, was given a 20-month jail sentence, suspended for two years, after he admitted eight counts of fraud place between June 2017 and August 2017.
He was originally charged with 22 counts but the remaining 14 charges were shelved due to some the complainants living abroad, moving away or refusing to assist the prosecution.
Pollard was also ordered to complete 20 rehabilitation activity days and 200 hours of unpaid work.
More: Johnny Pollard fraud trial postponed
Court sentences Johnny Pollard for fraud [December 2011]
The commercial director at the Manchester-based online travel agency deployed a tactic of false promises and prevarication, making up lie after lie to distract his clients.
After selling his victims bogus holidays, he would send on ‘convincing’ confirmation letters and promised that more details would follow closer to the big day.
Then just before departure day, Pollard would play the ‘blame game’ and say a third party had cancelled their trip.
One man spent £3,125 on a trip for his wife and two children to go to South Africa for his 50th birthday only to find no holiday had been booked, with other holidaymakers spending up to £4,800 a time on non-existent package vacations for family weddings.
One victim who spent £4,000 on two holidays with Pollard told police: “The defendant was persuasive and knowledgeable. The documents he sent over were extremely convincing and made me feel gullible. The whole time he did this consciously and cold-heartedly.”
A third who lost out said: “It had taken me years to save up the money for my holiday and would take a long time to replace.”
Inquiries revealed Pollard had a number of accounts listed in his name that his customers would continue to pay into.
He spent the cash on his weekly food shopping and exotic holidays for himself.
‘You are nothing more than a conman’
The judge Mr Recorder Ciaran Rankin told him: “You are nothing more than a conman, a thoroughly dishonest man.
“You were selling false promises. You twisted and turned at every stage, making up more lies to cover your tracks.
“There has been considerable financial hardship in many households as a result of your actions.
“A lot of their hard-earned money has ended up in your pocket. In your interview, unsurprisingly, you blamed others for your actions.
“I have no doubt you are an intelligent man, and you used your intelligence to plant these stories.”
Pollard ‘appalled’ by his actions
In mitigation, Pollard’s lawyer, David Morton, said simply: “He is appalled by the way he has acted.”
Adam Hodge, prosecuting, said: “The defendant was involved in this fraudulent activity for over a year. Many of the complainants in this case were his friends, the rest of which were friends of friends and acquaintances.
“All the offences follow a similar pattern, relating to how the holidays were branded, sold and how the real intentions of the defendant were disguised.
“Alison Farrier, who made up count one, presented the typical case for all counts. They had been friends since 2012 and throughout that friendship the complainant had been aware that the defendant had worked in the travel industry.
“In April 2016 he contacted her about a number of holidays he had and asked her if she would be interested in them. She declined, but when he asked if she could advertise the holidays on her own Facebook account she accepted.”
“Later in June 2016, the defendant contacted the complainant again with a similar offer for a holiday in Dubai. This time she committed to purchasing the holiday for her and her friend and paid £1,000 into the defendant’s account.
“Soon after, her friend dropped out of the holiday and the complainant asked if she could cancel the trip. The defendant refused, saying it was not possible.
“He then said she could use the money she already paid into his account to put towards the cost of another holiday with himself. The complaint chose to do so, and paid the defendant a further £3,500 for a holiday to Cancun with her parents.
“The complainant became concerned when she realised that she hadn’t heard back about her holidays.
“When she contacted the defendant, he told her that the trip was no longer going ahead as the flights had been cancelled.
“He initially blamed this on the fault of a third party company going bust, but eventually said that she would be able to get a refund.
“After months of texting between the two parties and minimal progress made on the refund, he eventually started to pay her off in dribs and drabs. However, this was only after she threatened to tell the police about his actions.”
Flight not recognised
Hodge added: “The second count is more unfortunate than the first. The complainant in this case was introduced to the defendant by a friend, and in November 2016 he made it clear that he was interested in buying a holiday from the defendant.
“He got in touch with the defendant and booked a holiday to Australia with his family, which cost over £3,000.
“After he sent the money to the defendant’s account, he received what he thought were official documents and was told he would be able to allocate seats for the flight nearer the time.
“When the complainant tried to add the flight to his airline awards card he noticed that the flight was not recognised.
“When he queried this with the defendant, he was told that the flight was listed under a corporate identity and so wouldn’t be acknowledged until a few days before departure.
“In April 2017, the complainant started to hear rumours from friends and acquaintances about Mr Pollard’s activity.
“When he told the defendant about these rumours he remarked that the ‘rumour mill had been working overtime’ and ‘he was doing everything he can’.
“The complainant asked for the flight and hotel to be insured, but the defendant deflected, saying that another company controlled that part of the holiday.
“At this point, he started to get suspicious. The defendant started to make more and more excuses.
“In response, he said that this had happened to six other people that had booked trips with him and that they must be ‘counting their holidays now’.
“He asked for a further fee to sort out a tax issue, which the complainant paid. He continued to make excuses and delayed the complainant until July 2017.
“After the defendant said that his money was held up at the bank, the complainant reported Pollard to Action Fraud.
“Each complainant spent a significant amount on holidays that would never be recovered. His excuse was that things were always outside his control.
“He hid the truth and strung along the victims for as long as possible but did not have the means to pay them back.
“In total, the defendant’s total fraud amounted to £32,125. All of this money went into his various accounts and rarely left it, save for a few token refunds he occasionally made.
“Instead, he spent most of the money on funding his extravagant lifestyle. He also used it to pay for his weekly food shopping and own trips abroad.
“The defendant was arrested at his home on April 4 2018. In interview he denied acting fraudulently and said that he had tried to order the refunds but these were being held back by other companies and that it was all out of his control.”
Pollard has three convictions for five offences, including theft by employee and deception. In 2015 he illegally pocketed £5,500 while working as commercial director at Bookable Holidays in Aldermaston, Berkshire.
‘Courts must send strong message’
Barry Gooch, chairman of Prevention of Fraud in Trade (Profit), said: “I am disappointed that Johnny Pollard only received a suspended sentence at Manchester Crown Court today bearing in mind he has a previous suspended sentence from Newbury Magistrates Court in 2011.
“On this occasion there were more charges and although Johnny’s previous conviction is spent, he has clearly not rehabilitated.
“Courts must be willing to send a strong message by jailing serial offenders otherwise they encourage the offender to repeat their crimes.
“Fraud is not a victimless crime and in the end we all pay for it through higher product prices and payment card and insurance charges.”
Copy and pictures: Cavendish Press (Manchester) Ltd