A temp spent three months living the high life in a luxury airport hotel after going on a spending spree with a borrowed company credit card.

Madelen Oswell racked up a £13,000 bill and hired a string of cars during her stay at the Holiday Inn near Gatwick, which charges up to £160 a night for a room.

Her champagne lifestyle came to an abrupt end when a cleaner arrived to discover the 28-year-old brunette's room was empty and she had vanished.

Hove Crown Court yesterday heard how Oswell used a colleague's corporate credit card to register and told hotel staff Crawley firm BOC Edwards, which she was temping for, would foot the bill.

Staff accepted the booking in January, giving Oswell free access to the 216-room hotel's restaurant, bar, swimming pool and leisure facilities.

She also used the card to hire four cars during her three-month stay.

Joss Greenhow, prosecuting, said managers were told the company would fax confirmation of the booking to them but it never arrived.

He said: "By April, she had run up a considerable bill and was asked how she intended to pay it. She asked if the money could be debited to the corporate card at £3,000 per month.

"After the first payment was debited to the card, its authorised user contacted the Holiday Inn to find out why the money had been paid."

Oswell, of Maypole Road, East Grinstead, then told the manager her father had agreed to repay the money.

However, when the hotel contacted him he said he could not.

They realised she had left without paying the bill when a cleaner found her room empty on May 3.

Jonathan Edwards, defending, said the deception was entirely out of character and this was her first offence.

He said she had since got another job in Uckfield and her new employer knew she had admitted five charges of criminal deception.

Mr Edwards said: "Her employer has agreed to stand by her and has offered to lend her £8,000 toward repaying the debt."

Judge David Rennie said he had taken her previous good character into account when deciding not to send her to prison.

He ordered her to complete an 80-hour community punishment order and made her the subject of a community rehabilitation order for two years.

He also ordered £8,000 be repaid to the Holiday Inn within three months and the outstanding £5,000 should be paid off by the end of next year.

The judge directed she should repay the money she owed to the hotel before repaying the car hire company.