A rogue travel agent who swindled Alexander McQueen’s former PA out of £155,000 before gambling it away has been jailed.
Miles Caldwell, 47, received huge payments to book hotel rooms and business class flights – but pocketed the lot.
Despite his arrest on earlier frauds he targeted more victims who believed they were dealing with a reputable agent.
The primary victim was events planner Liz Linkleter, a former assistant to fashion designer Alexander McQueen, who paid £155,751 to Caldwell with the expectation that he would secure 73 wedding hotel rooms and flights.
She expressed her frustration, saying, “I am extremely upset with how Miles Caldwell has handled things with my team and me. We trusted him, so we didn’t establish any formal business contracts, which I regret and have learned from.”
“We suffered a significant financial loss, though my greater concern was the potential damage to our business’s reputation had we needed to cancel the wedding event and explain the true situation to our clients.”
Ms. Linkleter mentioned she was unaware of Caldwell’s past criminal record, adding, “This incident could have severely affected our reputation and had a damaging impact on our business.”
Caldwell, residing at Seven Stiles Court, Ranmore Path, admitted to defrauding Ms. Linkleter and her namesake company between February 6 and May 8 of the previous year.
Miles Caldwell (pictured), 47, received huge payments to book hotel rooms and business class flights – but pocketed the lot
The biggest victim was events planner Liz Linkleter (pictured) – former PA to fashion designer Alexander McQueen
He also pleaded guilty to deceiving logistics manager Sahra Mirreh, who paid him for long-haul business class flights, resulting in a loss of £52,096 between July 17 and August 27 of last year.
Caldwell fobbed her off with lies about airline ticketing delays and even asked for more money, creating dummy booking references to keep her off his back.
‘Whilst under an immense amount of pressure I chose to show Miles a lot of grace and patience, not out of naivety, but in the hope he could get this situation sorted, carry-on trading and return the funds,’ she said.
‘Being unaware of the severity and enormity of his situation I just knew Miles to be an excellent travel agent and a pleasant person when communicating with him.
‘This whole incident has left me highly stressed and I feel very angry and frustrated by the situation. I am shocked and stunned that Miles did this to me.
‘I felt like he betrayed my trust. I felt like I had built up a good working relationship with him over the years, but now I believe it was based on lies.
‘The incident has taken its toll on my mental health and has put me in financial trouble.
‘The stress of having to relay what had happened to my clients and trying to find solutions to pay them back their money has been embarrassing and is likely to affect my business relationships going forward.’
Caldwell also pleaded guilty to defrauding events company Hudson Born out of £5,012 between April 4 and 15, this year and £55,800 out of Hippocampus Media on April 10.
Boss Matthew Hudson expected Caldwell to book hotel rooms for a marketing festival and an event involving the Football Association, but quickly became suspicious.
‘Nothing in his actions displayed responsibility and I have no doubt he’d do it again,’ said Mr Hudson. ‘I am lucky that my bank has reimbursed me.’
Hippocampus Media were reimbursed by their bank after transferring money to Caldwell to book hotel rooms, which was never done.
In 2017 Caldwell received two years imprisonment on eight counts of fraud but the latest offences continued after he made admissions to police.
Major gambling companies have contributed to a compensation fund and Liz Linkleter will receive approximately £15,000 and Sahra Mirreh approximately £5,000.
Recorder Samantha Presland said: ‘There’s an element of not being able to stop himself. This involves huge sums of money, with sophistication.
‘A pre-sentence report will not get him out of a custodial sentence.
‘You have brought your overnight bag so are ready to face the music. You are clearly a very bright man.’
Caldwell was sentenced to three years and four months in jail.
