A sophisticated police 'sting' lured wanted criminals out of hiding with false promises of thousands of pounds in prize money, a court heard.

Two drug offenders from Oxfordshire were among those who walked into the police trap at a London hotel, where officers had set up a makeshift police station. The offenders had called into the three-star £120-a-night Novotel near Kennington police station, south London, by appointment.

Student Francis Scriven, 23, of Sandford St Martin, Chipping Norton, and jobless Neil Prior, 34, of Marsh Court, Abingdon, had earlier jumped bail and failed to show up at court.

The elaborate con snared people, wanted on criminal charges, by telling them they had been specially chosen for a share of up to £2,500 in unclaimed prize money.

Prior admitted illegal possession of two rocks of crack cocaine, outside the Cloud Nine nightclub in Kennington, London, in December 1996, and having a wooden truncheon as an offensive weapon and failing to appear at the court in Westminster at an earlier hearing. He was bailed, pending reports.

Banbury College student Scriven was fined £200 with £30 costs after admitting possession of cannabis and four ecstasy tablets and outside the same club in July last year. He too admitted jumping bail.

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