Edinburgh hotel manager jailed after using customer’s credit card to buy train tickets

A hotel manager has been jailed after using a customer’s credit card to buy train tickets.

Blessing Bere, from Edinburgh, pleaded guilty to two counts of fraud and was sentenced at Carlisle Crown Court on Tuesday, February 11.

The 49-year-old was sentenced to one year in prison following a British Transport Police investigation.

Bere’s sentencing came after a customer who had stayed overnight at the Surrey hotel where he was night manager noticed a transaction on his card paying for train tickets and contacted LNER customer service.

LNER contacted its fraud department which marked the ticket numbers, due to be used on May 6, 2022, as being fraudulent.

Blessing Bere, from Edinburgh, pleaded guilty to two counts of fraud and was sentenced at Carlisle Crown Court. British Transport Police

When Bere presented the tickets on a journey from London to Edinburgh the number immediately flagged the tickets as being suspicious and a fraud alert.

The Revenue Protection Officer asked that Bere leave the train at Doncaster so further enquiries could be made.

He was met at the station by a BTP officers who said Bere seemed flustered and offered no explanation as to how the tickets were purchased.

Further investigations showed that Bere had attempted to purchase a number of LNER tickets using different cards and he was subsequently arrested.

Officers searched Bere and found items including several credit card authorisation forms for the hotel with customers’ credit card and personal details recorded on them.

Detectives contacted the banks relating to the card details found and discovered Bere had made charges to another customer’s account totalling almost £250.

DC Kristene Lawrence said: “Bere was in a position of trust at the hotel where he worked and customers believed that their credit card details were safe when they handed them over. However Bere chose to use this information fraudulently and for his own gain.

“Ultimately he has paid a hefty price – a criminal record, a prison sentence and unemployment,” he said.

“It’s safe to say that crime really doesn’t pay.”

Peter Craggs, senior fraud prevention manager at LNER, said: “We take all reports of fraud incredibly seriously and collaborate closely with BTP to protect the public.

“Identifying those people abusing the system and ensuring they cannot use our services to profit from their crime is key to our approach,” he added.

“We’re pleased that the teamwork embodied by our fraud prevention, customer service and onboard teams, together with our colleagues at BTP, has led to justice being served.”