Telford hotel master key raider is jailed

But vigilant housekeeping staff foiled the operation, raising the alarm and starting a police hunt that led to the culprit being arrested more than 60 miles away.

Officers found Stephen Price had 38 swipe card keys in his car – including one belonging to a Telford hotel, together with a wig and suit he used as a disguise.

Price, 48, received 21 months for stealing a swipe card from the 90-room Ramada Hotel in Telford. He committed the offence while out of prison on licence for his part in a £90,000 gang haul from hotels and conference centres across the country.

The father of two, of no fixed address, was jailed in 2011 for three years after he and his partners in crime posed as management officials at venues where they snatched master keys. The gang then let themselves into unoccupied hotel rooms, stealing valuables and wallets. Price had been caught on camera making cash withdrawals with stolen cards across the UK. He was spotted by a housekeeper at the Ramada in Forge Gate on November 16 last year.

Later, when the master key vanished she was able to identify Price on CCTV and police traced him using automatic car number plate recognition systems before stopping his Ford car in Cheshire.

Detectives found another a pile of key cards in his car along with his disguise.

Prosecuting Mr Kevin Jones said: "A key card that is described as a master key for the hotel, that had the opportunity of opening a number of bedrooms, certainly all of those on the second floor – but potentially all the rooms in the hotel – had been taken.

"When hotel staff made inquiries into their CCTV the housekeeper was able to identify the defendant."

Price had a record of 17 convictions for 55 offences, including dishonesty, conspiracy to defraud, burglary and handling.