Brit travel agent, 60, who admitted embezzling customer cash meant for airlines is handed

A British travel agent has been given an 11-month suspended prison sentence by a Spanish court after admitting to embezzling cash meant for airlines including British Airways.

Nicola Roberts, 60, was charged with misappropriating nearly £280,000 of customer money she failed to pass on to the airlines as their agent after a long-running investigation by prosecutors in Majorca.

She was warned she could face a one-and-a-half year prison term if she went to trial and was found guilty.

At a pre-trial hearing yesterday at a court in the Majorcan capital Palma, Roberts confessed to wrongdoing after agreeing a plea bargain deal.

Her jail term was automatically suspended as part of the negotiated agreement.

The Spanish court gave Roberts an 11-month suspended sentence

Public prosecutors accused the travel boss of embezzling almost €325,000 (£278,000) from airlines including British Airways and Lufthansa

Public prosecutors accused the travel boss of embezzling almost €325,000 (£278,000) from airlines including British Airways and Lufthansa in December 2019 and January 2020

In a three-page pre-trial indictment they also highlighted the fact she had repaid most of the cash she had kept from flight ticket sales instead of passing it on to the companies she represented.

At the time she was sole owner of Ticket Agencia de Viajes, based in the town of Portals Nous a 10-minute drive from the popular British holiday resort of Magaluf.

Her repayments to the airlines were taken into account as a mitigating factor.

Roberts is understood to have repaid all the money she was accused of keeping before yesterday’s pre-trial hearing but still owes €10,500 (£8,980) in interest.

She will also pay legal costs and a small fine as part of her plea bargain deal.

Her sentence was read out at the Audiencia Provincial court in Palma. The pre-trial indictment offered no information on why Roberts kept the money.

Roberts confirmed today all the money she had kept back from the airlines had been paid back ‘a long time ago.’

She said: ‘Just slightly before Covid we started seeing a lot of flights being cancelled with the airlines, a lot of problems with the airlines.

‘When the invoice came to be paid I said to the airlines I’m going to hold back payment of this invoice because I want to see what’s going on and get some refunds to my clients.

‘What I did was I paid the airlines late and showed them what I’d paid them and what I’d paid the clients because I refunded the clients myself, for flights they couldn’t take, for flights that were cancelled, different flights to get clients back home and so on.

‘We were in new territory with Covid.

‘The airlines have recognised I paid them back and that I refunded the clients but their argument was that I shouldn’t have refunded clients myself and should have paid them first.

‘I know that way the clients wouldn’t have got the money.

‘The argument that’s been going on has been about the interest the airlines were demanding for the late payment which was the only reason it went as far as it did.

‘We’ve now agreed on £8,550 interest which was done at the court in Palma yesterday.

‘Have the airlines got their money? Yes. Have my clients got their refunds? Yes. Everyone’s happy.

‘In 25 years have I not ever paid the airlines? No.

‘I know I’ve admitted to a charge of misappropriation but all I did was delay paying a bill. I was worried about my own business going under and what was going to happen to my clients’ money with the onset of Covid.

‘It’s just such a shame that our reputation as a travel agency has been dragged over the coals. We’re still very much open and very busy and I hope we don’t suffer because of it.

‘We’re still working with the airlines and I’m looking forward to putting all this behind me.’