By Joe Jeffrey
Man jailed for ten months following scamming families with fake caravan holiday promises
A man who left people devastated with a fake caravan holiday scam has been jailed for ten months.
Upon losing his job selling caravan holidays legally, Samuel Higgins, 30, took to advertising fake caravan holidays at Butlins in Skegness and Rhyl, North Wales, despite no holidays ever materialising.
Following receiving numerous complaints alerting police to the scam, which saw him ignore telephone calls and messages once money had been paid, Higgins was traced by police to his home at the aptly named Robin Hood Holiday Park in Yorkshire in 2013, but managed to evade arrest, instead feeling to Spain. He was subsequently arrested upon his return recently.
On bail at the time of his arrest for other offences pertaining to dishonesty, including convictions for similar matters, Higgins was sentenced by Judge Rhys Rowlands to ten months, taking into account time served for another prison sentence earlier in 2015.
Of the people Higgins scammed, including a family with a disabled six-year-old child who Higgins assured would find adequate disabled facilities onsite, Judge Rowlands said: “They had been looking forward to their holidays but they got nothing back thanks to your criminal behavior.
“It was repeated dishonesty which involved a fairly significant sum of money,” he continued.
Emmalyne Downing, prosecuting, told how Higgins advertised the caravan holidays online on Gumtree.
Damian Zelazowski, defending, said Higgins had sold caravan holidays legitimately to start with but he had continued when he lost his employment and that Higgins had been candid with police after handing himself in voluntarily.
Zelazowski went on to say Higgins had shown remorse and, since the offences occurred, had gone on to work legitimately whilst working towards gaining a qualification and had attempted to turn his life around.
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