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A Kent company boss on holiday in Las Vegas was interrogated by police and given a body search after the money she tried to change in casino turned out to be fake.

Secret Service agents were also drafted in to search 58-year-old Gail Chandler's room.

Miss Chandler, a director of a mail order company based in Strood, has spoken publicly about her ordeal for the first time.

Her ordeal started when, six days into her holiday in June, she was detained by security guards at Harrah's casino on suspicion of using fake $100 dollar bills.

Miss Chandler claims she obtained $5,000 from the Thomson bureau at Hempstead Valley Shopping Centre, Gillingham, shortly before going on her trip.

In a letter to Miss Chandler, Thomson disputed that it had ordered the currency in for her. But Miss Chandler says she was given an appointment to go in and collect it from the Hempstead Valley branch on a specific day.

A spokesman for Thomson said the company would be in touch with Miss Chandler to investigate her complaint.

Miss Chandler said: "I’d been there about six days and used most of the $50 notes they gave me and I was down to the last $100 notes. I went to Harrah’s casino and changed about $700 to $800 with the floor walker. I had tried to change them with the bill breaker machine but it wouldn’t accept them and I assumed it was because they were new notes.

"The next day I took the last of the new $100 bills from the envelope Thomson had given me. I went back to Harrah’s changed up $100 with the floor walker and as I just started to play the slot machine one of the security guys came up behind me.

"I said ‘hello’ and carried on playing the machine then another three turned up. One said ; 'Have you just changed a $100 note ?' I said 'Yes ' and they said :' 'Were you in here yesterday changing notes?’ I said 'Yes I was.' Then they told me ‘we need to take you for questioning because they’re counterfeit notes.

"They made me put my hands behind my back and put me in handcuffs and marched me through the casino."

She was given a body search and where she was given a body search asked if she had any needles on her and quizzed by detectives for three hours.

"The whole experience was humiliating embarrassing, really stressful, and it made me feel physically sick.

"I’ve never been inside a UK police station let alone a pair of handcuffs.

"It was very frightening . The handcuffs were very tight and heavy, with my hands behind my back. "

A spokesman for Thomson said: "Thomson holds customer satisfaction in the highest regard and is sorry to hear of the problems encountered by Miss Chandler in Las Vegas.

"Our US currency is purchased from market leader American Express and undergoes rigorous checks for forgery before being sold-on to customers. In each of our bureaus our staff are trained to spot counterfeit notes and systems are in place to ensure any forgeries are intercepted.

"Our customer service team will be in touch with Mrs Chandler to investigate her case further."

Full story in Friday's print edition of the Medway Messenger