A family company swindled thousands of British hol

A family company swindled thousands of British holidaymakers in a multi-million pound timeshare scam, the Old Bailey heard today (MON).

Businessman John Palmer, together with his girlfriend and nephew employed ruthless salesman to con tourists on Tenerife, the jury was told.

When the victims tried to get their money back, they were met with a sophisticated web of companies based in Brentwood, Essex, to put them off, it is claimed.

The enormous fraud allegedly lasted seven years, and conned more than 16,500 holidaymakers out of millions of pounds.

It even continued even after a police probe began in 1994, the court heard.

Prosecuting QC David Farrer said: ‘Holidaymakers were tricked by a series of lies and false promises.

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It is alleged that the massive scam was masterminded by 49-year-old John Palmer, who was assisted by his nephew Andrew, 31, and girlfriend Christina Ketley, 39.

The jury was told that two different techniques were used to fleece people of their cash.

In the first – dubbed ‘buy-sell’ – existing timeshare owners would be talked into signing up for weeks at a new holiday home on the basis that their other weeks would be sold for a huge profit.

But their first timeshare was never sold – and the victims would be contractually obliged to pay thousands of pounds for the new weeks as well.

The second fraud, known as ‘rental’, involved convincing holidaymakers – many of them frail, old couples – into buying timeshare by saying their weeks could be rented out for vast amounts.

They would be led to believe that the holiday home would effectively pay for itself – but again, having signed up they discovered they had been duped.

Mr Farrer said: ‘This is a story of a very large number of ordinary people who were systematically tricked into buying timeshare apartments on Tenerife.

‘They were tricked into paying large sums of money which many of them could not afford to lose, and they were tricked by a series of lies and false promises that timeshares which they already owned would be sold quickly for them, and at very attractive high prices.

‘Similarly, they were tricked into believing that timeshares which they bought on Tenerife could be rented out quickly and at rentals way above the market rate.

‘This would produce such an attractive income that they would be able to pay off their new timeshare, in effect, while sitting watching TV at home.

‘This pair of rackets ran for a very large time indeed, around seven years.

‘It was a fraud on ordinary people of ordinary means – most were couples, and some of them were pensioners.

‘They got themselves entangled in these kind of practices.

In Tenerife, they were faced with a slick, well orchestrated, and thoroughly dishonest sales operation, which involved a whole number of elements.

‘It involved high-pressure, glib, untruthful salesmen who had been carefully trained to latch onto the unwary, and sometimes even the wary and canny customers, and practice their sales skills on them.

‘They were faced with complicated and deliberately misleading paperwork, and a confusing network of companies named on that paperwork.

‘There was also a clever, cynical system operated in Tenerife and backed up in Brentwood designed to part them from their money as fast as possible, and then to make it as difficult as possible to get it back.

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Mr Farrer then outlined an example of how the slick buyers would snare their victims.

A couple would be approached by a girl with a scratch card which would result in a prize being won.

‘This would have to be collected from a resort – perhaps Island Village, the largest of Palmer’s timeshare locations,’ he said.

‘A man approaches, offers a drink and asks whether they are having a nice holiday.

He finds out the couple already has a timeshare in the Algarve and asks if they want to have a look at some of the apartments here, no obligation.

‘You are told his company can sell your old timeshare in exchange for a one in Island Village and a few thousand pounds profit.

‘A guarantee is even offered to ensure your old timeshare is sold promptly so owners are not left with two timeshares at the same time.

‘He says they use an independent company which has a first class record in selling timeshares.

One example is Springbok International operating from West London.

‘The deposit for the new timeshare is put on credit card.

When this is agreed a bell is rung and a bottle of champagne is produced to celebrate the happy event.

‘Then another salesperson takes over and produces a series of documents, the effect of which is going to be pretty drastic.

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John Palmer, of Battlefields, Bath, Andrew Palmer, from Meadow Cottage, Meadow Lane, Solihull, and Ketley, of Foxdown Cottage, Sandpit Lane, Brentwood, Essex, all deny two charges of conspiracy to defraud between 1989 and 1997.

The trial continues.

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