Glam Brit mum could face jail after ‘£9m holiday food poison scam’ arrest

A Brit mother could face prison time if found guilty of carrying out an alleged food poisoning scam in Majorca.

Laura Holmes Cameron was alleged to have lied about being ill at resorts around the Spanish island so she, along with seven other people accused, could claim compensation from hotels.

Spanish detectives claim they uncovered the scheme back in 2017 when three hotel groups across the island were targeted over the course of two years. It may have cost the businesses upward of £9.6million.

Holmes Cameron, also known as Laura Joyce, was accused of setting up the company with her brother which prosecutors maintain was a "profit-motivated organised gang".

Holmes Cameron, 44, and her brother Marc Cameron Grinstead, are believed to be the ringleaders of the organisation and were charged with fraud and membership of a criminal gang.

Six other Brits, Ryan Bridges, Simon Robert Flanagan, Tegan Jewel Sumerlee, Susan Amanda Lyle, Nicola Marie Sanderson, and Peter Carl Murphy, were charged and arrested. These names were linked in the trial as potential middlemen used by the alleged leaders of the gang, The Sun reported.

Mum-of-three Cameron has since been warned she could be given a higher prison sentence should she be fingered as the leader of the group swindling hotels across the holiday island.

The Majorca Hoteliers Federation has reportedly said they hope to see a sentence of five years passed if she is found guilty, and demanded a further year and six months should she be convicted as the leader of a criminal gang.

Requests were also made for the jailing of Holmes Cameron's brother, with a seven-page indictment court document showing the hotel body seeks a five-year term for Marc. Four years for the aggravated fraud charge and a year for the membership of a criminal gang allegation.

Further notes in the document saw the rest of the Brits potentially slapped with three years and nine months behind bars if found guilty of both charges.

Compensation is also sought by the hotel body, who hope to receive roughly £1million in damages from the series of what they labelled "intoxications" which "didn't exist".

A court in Majorca ruled: "The gang specialised in obtaining the details of British tourists in all-inclusive hotels in Majorca it convinced, through a form they themselves elaborated, to falsely claim they had been ill during their stay in one of those hotels and be able to claim compensation in the UK."

Spanish prosecutors are yet to reveal the specifics of potential sentencing for the Brits but it is believed they could face at least eight years in jail if they defrauded more than €400,000.

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