Man who fled illicit liaison in hotel down fire escape without paying caught four years later

A man who fled a hotel room without paying was tracked down through his fingerprints four years later. Damien Nicholas, 24, of Rhyl, north east Wales, had been having an affair with a woman at the Lauriston Court Hotel in Llandudno, a court heard. But when she had to leave suddenly, they both nipped down the fire escape. But on Wednesday, justice caught up with him and he admitted making off without paying the £65 bill.



Llandudno Magistrates heard he had booked the room for an overnight stay at the hotel near Llandudno Pier in January 2012. Prosecutor Tracey Willingham said on the night in question, Nicholas had visited the hotel to make the booking between 10.15pm to 10.30pm and was told the bill would be £65. He left and returned with a woman at 11.30pm before being shown to room 8 on the second floor.

But the following morning, staff discovered that the pair had left room overnight without paying by fleeing through a fire escape which led from where their room was down to a side street. Nicholas managed to evade detection until September this year when his fingerprint was found on a ridge on the inside of the door leading to the hotel’s fire escape. Police confronted Nicholas on November 25 it was then that he admitted the affair and fleeing the hotel without paying for the room. The prosecutor said: “He said (to police) he intended to pay and the female offered to pay while he was in the shower but they did not pay.



“They left through the fire exit which was a dishonest thing to do.” Roger Thomas defending said Nicholas had been having an affair which by its nature was “clandestine” but the unnamed woman received a phone call on the night in question. Mr Thomas added: “Unfortunately, something happened in the night that meant she could not stay. They panicked.” The defence solicitor said the decision to leave without paying was not planned because they couldn’t have foreseen that their room would have a fire escape. He added: “It seems odd that the fingerprint has come to light four years on.” Magistrates fined Nicholas £80. He was also ordered to pay £85 court costs, £65 compensation and a £25 victim surcharge.