TWO con artist commuters have been convicted for defrauded Southern Railway's delay repay scheme in what is thought to be one of the first cases of its kind.

Steve Martin, 49, and Nicole Philips, 42, pleaded guilty to making bogus claims worth more than £6,000.

The pair researched delayed trains online then submitted claims, despite never travelling on the services.

But their scam was uncovered by transport police detectives and investigators from the rail operator and they were taken to court.

PC Michael Stephenson, from British Transport Police, said: “They managed to arouse suspicion after submitting an unusually large number of claims.

"CCTV was produced that clearly showed they had already made their journeys into London for work and hadn’t been anywhere near the delayed services at the time.

“This was an operation designed to defraud the railway of thousands of pounds set aside for passengers who have been genuinely inconvenienced by delays and disruption.

"Ultimately it is the travelling public who lose out through increases in fares to cover the cost of bogus claims like these.

“We hope this sends a clear message to anyone thinking of abusing the claims system in the future.”

The pair, from Pulborough, were sentenced at Highbury Magistrates Court in London Martin, of Link Lane, was handed a two-year prison sentence suspended for 12 months.

He was ordered to pay Southern Railway compensation of £3,500 and told to undertake 180 hours unpaid work.

Phillips, of Station Road, was sentenced to 18 months in prison suspended for 12 months.

She was ordered to pay £2,600 in compensation and was given 120 hours unpaid work.

Stella Morris, head of security at Southern Railway, said: "We welcome genuine claims for delays to journeys of 30 minutes or more.

"However, this case demonstrates that if you abuse a scheme to compensate rail passengers who are delayed, it will be treated as serious fraud and prosecuted.

“Govia Thameslink Railway worked hard with British Transport Police to uncover this fraud and will continue to highlight to them those cases where we believe that fraudulent claims are being made."