Karl Gallagher jailed for stolen card spending spree

Mar 6 2009 by Adam Jupp, The Journal

See the full list of stolen goods below

SEDUCED by a lifestyle way beyond his means, the temptation was too strong to resist. From his desk at the British Airways call centre in Newcastle, Karl Gallagher dreamed of luxury holidays and living it up in plush hotels.

Desperate to make those dreams a reality, he started stealing customers’ credit card details to fund his lavish spending spree.

Gallagher, of Trafalgar Road, Washington, went on to plunder thousands of pounds from the accounts of people who booked BA flights through him.

He checked into four-star hotels on Tyneside and in Edinburgh, even complaining to staff about the service he received while staying there.

The 26-year-old also splashed out of flowers for his current and ex-girlfriends, Sunderland football match tickets, mobile phone top-up cards and takeaway pizzas.

At the height of the scam, Gallagher started booking holidays and selling them-on to friends and associates for a profit.

And even after he was suspended from his job at the Bamburgh Court call centre, he continued to pocket up-front payments from friends for trips he was no longer in a position to book.

Now, Gallagher has been jailed for more than two-and-a-half years at Newcastle Crown Court after admitting nine fraud offences.

The court heard his offending was first detected when a Hastings-based police officer tried to book a flight to Mexico City from London Heathrow for his daughter.

Barry Robson, prosecuting, told how Gallagher used the officer’s card to buy a holiday worth £1,829 but by the time it appeared on his bank statement, the people Gallagher had sold it to were already abroad.

Over the course of three months, between February-May 2007, Gallagher spent £16,405 using other people’s credit and debit card details.

In April that year, he stayed in the Marriott hotel at the MetroCentre, spending £685, before twice checking into the Malmaison, on Newcastle’s Quayside, spending a total of £1,266.