Betting shop fraudsters jailed

Two Wolverhampton betting shop workers were today behind bars after raking in more than £30,000 in a dog racing scam.

Neil Boyle, relief manager at Totessport, in Lower Villiers Street, was jailed for a year at Wolverhampton Crown Court while his co-accused, manager Robert Wayne, was locked up for nine months.

Cashier Gary Lewis was given a six-month suspended jail sentence for his part in the fraud and 120 hours of unpaid work. Prosecutor Mr Mark Phillips told the court the activity was uncovered at the branches in the city centre and in Salop Street, Blakenhall.

The discovery came after a surveillance operation was mounted when the firm noticed a dip in takings.

"All three used their knowledge of the electronic sale system, known as EPOS, so that bets could be placed after a dog race had started," he said. He said EPOS was set up to allow customers to place bets up to the moment a race started.

"There is a betting window of about three seconds after the start of a race," he said. "If however, you set up the bet, you can watch the very start of the race before you put in your betting slip.

"The defendants would look at which were the favoured winners, complete at least two slips, hold them over the machine and as soon as the race started, drop the appropriate slip into the machine."

Mr Phillips told the court yesterday Boyle, aged 47, of Helming Drive, Deansfield, and Wayne, 33, of Claverley Drive, Springhill, had assigned themselves the nicknames "Legga" and "Lucky" respectively.

"Head office began to get reports from EPOS that Legga and Lucky were placing bets and winning quite a lot and, when the company checked the shops, particularly Lower Villiers Street, the takings were significantly down," he said.

Boyle got about £20,000, Wayne £10,000 while Lewis, 43, of Poplar Avenue, Wednesfield, got about £1,000 in handouts for leaving his till open for the others.

All three, who admited fraud, were described as remorseful and of previous good character.