London, July 01: A royal bodyguard accused of running a multimillion dollar scam opened his defence on Monday by accusing his palace colleagues of running poker and porn enterprises, the Telegraph reported on Tuesday.
Paul Page, who is alleged to have cheated colleagues and others out of their life savings, described his job as an “easy life”. Page denied fraudulent trading, intimidation and threatening to take revenge on a victim who spoke to police between January 1 2003 and March 30,2007.
His wife Laura, 42, was acquitted on Friday of charges she originally faced in connection with the case.
Opening his defence at Southwark Crown court on Tuesday, Page said officers in the royal protection command could earn £50,000-60,000 a year with overtime “for doing very little”.
Shifts involved two hours on post, followed by at least an hour off post. “You didn’t work for a living,” he said. “That is the bottom line. “You have got time to study… There was one officer and he did sell porn. He used to get it from Holland, bring it back and sell it to officers while on duty.”
“Everyone knew about it but no one would say anything. Officers were running poker games for money in down time. If people want to do that that is fair enough but senior officers let it go.”
Page said members of the royal household instilled a class culture and royal protection officers were treated as a “necessary evil” who were expected to turn a blind eye to crime at the palace.
He added that money was “thrown at you” because the security level had to be kept up. Page said: “I shouldn’t be saying what I am saying but it has to be done — I need you to understand the culture.”
–Agencies