Tetchytyke
Veteran Member
Six ticket office clerks operating from Richmond station in London have been jailed after defrauding passengers and South West Trains of over £100,000.
http://www.sheengate.co.uk/richmond...t-train-employees-commit-100k-worth-of-fraud/
http://www.sheengate.co.uk/richmond...t-train-employees-commit-100k-worth-of-fraud/
Six members of South West Trains staff who worked as ticket-office clerks at Richmond station have been jailed for committing fraud thought to be worth in excess of £100,000.
The gangs activities came to light in October 2012 South West Trains investigated an anomaly in accounting systems.
An investigation revealed Linus Okrah, 45, Julia Cann, 33, Alicia Dunn, 34, David Rudland, 67, Grace Oyegoke, 33, and Olufisayo Dada, 35, had been defrauding the ticketing and Oyster card system.
Fraudulent cards were being sold illicitly to unsuspecting customers while the staff pocketed the cash, in what was described as a sell one get one free scam.
They were arrested when evidence emerged they had also been taking advantage of the till systems in order to create and use illicit travel cards which were found in locations including their home addresses.
Between them, these people had more than 50 years service with South West Trains, yet they chose to throw that away for the sake of greed said Detective Constable Becci Crampton.
Throughout their trial, they denied any responsibility for the fraud, claiming the irregularities had been caused by technical faults with ticket machines. Thanks to the hard work of our officers, South West Trains and Transport for London, we were able to prove this was a lie.
Okrah, from Wanstead, was sentenced to 18 months. Cann, from Brentford, was sentenced to nine months. Alicia Dunn, from Luton, was sentenced to nine months. Rudland, from Epsom, was sentenced to 13 months.
Oyegoke, from Greenhithe, was sentenced to nine months, suspended for two years, 150 hours of unpaid work to be completed within 12 months, and wear an electronic tag for three months.
Dada, from Brixton, was sentenced to 18 months for conspiracy to commit fraud, and a further six months, to run consecutively after pleading guilty to possessing false identity documents with intent.