Police officer used dead person's bank card on £300 spending spree

A police officer has admitted being a serial fraudster by spending more than £300 on Deliveroo and Amazon using a dead person's bank card.

Amelia Lancaster, 28, was working for the Metropolitan Police at Wimbledon when she went to a hotel room where a person had died from a drug overdose. She took their bank card to spend £302.51 on it between October 31 and November 16, 2022.

She also fraudulently used the bank card details of four other people, including her flatmate, to spend another £301.40 between May 29, 2021 and August 8, 2022.

Lancaster's crimes took place across London and Bradford over a period of three years while she worked as a police officer in both areas.

Lancaster of Baildon, Bradford was arrested on October 19 and admitted the offences.

She was sacked from West Yorkshire Police at a disciplinary hearing in Wakefield.

Her crimes went undetected at the Met and after two and a half years, she transferred to West Yorkshire Police where she was based in Eccleshill police station in Bradford.

There, she stole a personal trainer's bank card and tried to use it to buy vaping products.

She stole the card after befriending the gym owner who allowed her access to the staff room when she took classes. 

On September 7, 2023, the victim was alerted by his bank that his card was being used in a series of attempted £5 purchases at a vaping shop nearby.

He reported his concerns to the gym owner and the pair went to the shop where CCTV stills identified Lancaster using the bank card.

She had also taken his card seven days before, with the victim having lost £25 in total across the three thefts.

Lancaster spent £46.60 on Antonia Meixner's bank card between May 29, 2021 and June 5, 2021.

Earlier that year, she spent £66.78 using the card of Francesco Sanseverino on January 21, 2021.

Between May 28, 2022 and May 31, 2022, Lancaster spent £111.18 using a bank card of Gail Marshall.

She also spent £77.84 using Mohamed Awash's bank card between August 5 and 8,  2022.

At her police disciplinary hearing, Chief Constable John Robins, who chaired the hearing, ruled Lancaster was guilty of gross misconduct and that she would be dismissed without notice.

He said: ‘She’s embarrassed by her actions and still to this day has no answers as to why she decided to behave in such a way.

‘It’s quite clear in my mind as chief constable that conduct of this nature is not conducive to being a police officer.’

At Kingston Crown Court today, Lancaster admitted another four counts of fraud by false representation and misconduct in public office.

Prosecutor Andrew Moss previously said: ‘The case relates to a number of fraudulent transactions which have been made online relating to bank cards of five victims, one of the persons was recently deceased.

‘The deceased person was found by police at a hotel, their untimely death was due to an overdose, the defendant was one of the officers attending the scene.

‘The defendant was seen either holding or taking pictures of the card

‘Their bank card was used in a number of fraudulent transactions, the total came to £302.51, this was accrued not through High Street shopping but through Deliveroo, Amazon and other deliveries.

‘Offences came to light due to the investigation into the use of the deceased person’s card. It was found that there were four other victims of similar offences.

‘The uses of the cards were traced to the defendant’s home address.’

Lancaster, has since been fired from the Metropolitan Police Service.

Tom Orpin-Massey, defending said: ‘The defendant expresses enormous remorse and regret, and she will be pleading guilty at the earliest opportunity.’

Judge Georgina Kent adjourned sentencing to wait for a pre-sentence report.

She told Lancaster that all options were open, including custody.

Lancaster remains on unconditional bail until her sentencing date on January 31, 2025 at Kingston Crown Court.