Trickster ran up £1000 top hotels bill

Published on Wednesday 29 October 2008 08:55

A PENNILESS analyst who ran up bills of over £1000 with five-star hotels in Edinburgh said he had done so because he wanted to live "a bit of the high life".

Pampreet Singh Pooni, 38, boasted of owning flash cars and drank champagne while socialising with high-flying guests in the city's exclusive Rutland Hotel and the Apex International Hotel.

The trickster even bought the other guests drinks in the hotel bars, charging them to his room.

But he couldn't even afford his board, and adding on the charges for drinks, skipped bills for over 1000.

He was later caught by police, and at Edinburgh Sheriff Court yesterday admitted two charges of taking lodgings with no intention of paying for them.

Pooni was jailed earlier this year for a mobile phone scam.

He was released on licence in August, with 224 days left of his sentence to go. After he got out, he had nowhere to go and came up with his latest scam to stay free at Edinburgh's top hotels.

Fiscal depute Aidan Higgins told the court how Pooni checked into the Rutland Hotel in Rutland Street on August 26 and ran up a 560 bill before disappearing without settling up.

A week later he checked into the Apex International Hotel in the Grassmarket, racking up 463 worth of bills.

Pooni was ordered to serve 224 days of his original sentence before six months in jail for the new offences.