by Julia Roberts

A mother-of-two who masterminded a fraud that cheated a holiday firm out of almost £250,000 by booking luxury, five-star trips abroad using fraudulent credit cards has been jailed for four-and-a-half years today.

Rachel Allgood, 28, was one of seven women and five men in the dock at Maidstone Crown Court told by a judge they were part of a scam which was "highly sophisticated from start to finish."

The 12, from the Maidstone and Medway areas, either admitted or were convicted by a jury of conspiracy to commit fraud by false representation between April 2008 and July 2009.

The court heard the scam involved using fraudulent credit card details to book expensive holidays with Thomas Cook in places such as Jamaica, USA, Mexico, Disneyland Paris, and the Maldives.

Prosecutor Jonathan Higgs said the trips taken by the gang, most of whom are on benefits, were often to all-inclusive resorts.

"Everything that could be paid for on a credit card, and paid for lavishly," he said during one trial. "There were upgrades upon upgrades upon upgrades. No expense spared."

One weekend trip to Disneyland Paris, said Mr Higgs, took advantage of "every additional package available - all except the 'Paparazzi' one, which would have involved photographs being taken of the holidaymakers."

Allgood, a convicted fraudster, was at the heart of the conspiracy and involved in booking holidays worth £130,307 over a nine-month period.

She was said to have used the credit card details "like confetti" and was on bail for other deception matters at the time.

Allgood even applied fraudulently for another passport after her original had been seized by the police in 2007 so she could take advantage of the trips abroad.

Judge Philip Statman told her she was "an illicit travel agent" for a "truly audacious" holiday con.

"Many people would have considered any one of these trips as the holiday of a lifetime," he added.

Allgood, of William Baker House, Royal British Legion Village, Aylesford, admitted conspiracy to commit fraud and was jailed for three years, with concurrent terms of 12 months for similar offences of fraud against Medway and Tonbridge and Malling Borough Councils, Sainsburys and catalogue company JD Williams.

She was also given two further terms of nine months each, consecutive to each other and to the three years, making a total of four-and-a-half, for defrauding the Passport Agency and for an offence of deception in 2006.

The court heard she has a previous conviction in November 2005 for obtaining expensive slimming pills by deception.

The other 11 remaining defendants, who included Allgood's sister Louise and brother Matthew, were given sentences ranging between 10 months imprisonment and 100 hours unpaid work.