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An investigation by British Transport Police (BTP) and South West Trains that uncovered a ticket fraud has led to jail sentences for six rail staff.

The three men and three women, all employees of South West Trains, embarked on a massive ticketing fraud thought to be worth in excess of ^100,000 over nearly two years, a court heard.

The staff, who worked as ticket-office clerks at Richmond station in south-west London, committed the fraud between October 2011 and January 2013.

All six, including Epsom resident David Rudland, were found guilty of conspiracy to commit fraud at a hearing at Kingston Crown Court on September 4.

Rudland, 67, of Digdens Rise, was sentenced to 13 months, with the other rail staff receiving sentences ranging from nine months to 18 months.

The court heardhow the gang^s activities came to light in October 2012 after South West Trains asked BTP to investigate an anomaly in their accounting system.

BTP discovered the problem centred around Richmond station. Further investigation revealed several members of staff had been de-frauding the ticketing and Oyster card system.

Fraudulent cards were being sold illicitly to unsuspecting customers, while the six staff pocketed the cash, in what the prosecution described as a ^sell one get one free^ scam.

They were arrested in January 2013, when evidence emerged they had also been taking advantage of the till systems in order to create and use illicit travel cards which were found in locations including their home addresses.

Officers estimate the value of the Oyster fraud at around ^68,000 and, while an exact figure cannot be placed on the travel card fraud, the court was told that it is also believed to run into tens of thousands of pounds.

Speaking after the gang were sentenced, Detective Constable Becci Crampton said: ^Between them, these people had more than 50 years^ service with South West Trains, yet they chose to throw that away for the sake of greed.

^Throughout their trial, they denied any responsibility for the fraud, claiming the irregularities had been caused by technical faults with ticket machines.

^Thanks to the hard work of BTP officers, South West Trains and TfL, we were able to prove this was a lie.

^I am satisfied with the sentences handed down, and hope those involved will use their sentences to reflect on what they have done.^

Ticket office fraud has been about a long time, I remember a case at Victoria in the Mid 60s at Victoria which involved the chief clerk and foreign currency transactions.