A Richmond hotel was the centre of a credit card scam carried out by one of its employees and his brother.

Isleworth Crown Court heard last week how 25-year-old Jayant Patel passed over details to a friend who went onto to steal £35,000 from the Richmond Gate Hotel's clients.

Jayant Patel, of Gainsborough Road, Kew, was given 200 hours community service and ordered to pay £500 costs. His brother Dharmendra Patel of the same address was given the same sentence.

The court heard the credit card scam was revealed when Bernard Amissah of Moreland Close, Twickenham, was stopped by British Airways staff at Heathrow Airport in November 1997.

Prosecutor Christopher Hehir said: "They did not believe the card that had been tendered for payment was not this defendant's to use. When Mr Amissah was searched he was found to have 350 credit card slips."

Around 20 of the slips had been tendered in payment at the Cedars Health Club and the Richmond Gate Hotel. Jayant Patel was working as a financial assistant at the Richmond Hill Hotel and part of his duties was to reconcile the credit card vouchers. His brother Dharmendra was a childhood friend of Amissah and his role was to persuade Jayant to get the slips which were passed to Amissah.

Amissah also admitted obtaining a £8,000 motorbike in Britain by a similar deception in 1995 and then jumping bail to live in Sweden.

He was jailed for three years and told by the Judge, Recorder Gibson Grenfell QC, "You brought your friend and his brother low."

Jayant Patel resigned his position at the hotel a week before he was arrested. A hotel spokesman said: "When we employ people for we look into security and everything we looked into indicated he was very reliable and suitable for a position of this kind."

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