A WEALTHY businessman is offering a £500 reward after more than £6,000 worth of valuables were stolen from his room in the Imperial Hotel.

Blackpool-born Kevin Swales, 47, booked into the promenade hotel from May 5-11, for a birthday break to visit family and friends, some of whom he hadn't seen for 15 years.

The celebrations turned sour for Kevin and wife Carmelita after they awoke on the Friday morning to find a Rolex watch worth £3,350, a £600 Omega Constellation Seamaster watch and £2,000 cash had vanished.

But under the Hotel Proprietors Act 1956, all the hotel have been able to offer Kevin is £100 as the watches, which were not insured, and cash were stolen from the room and not from the hotel safe. The watches are of sentimental value to Kevin, a former butler to the Duke of Gloucester, who had the Omega presented to him by the Amir of Bahrain during a 1989 royal tour.

Kevin, who now works as a property manager in London, said: "When I realised the watches and money and gone, I couldn't believe it. As it sunk in I became upset.

"The watches are of such value to me that I am giving a reward for information leading to their recovery and will donate any recovered money to the Victim Support Scheme."

A statement from the Paramount Hotel Group, who own the Imperial, said: "The Paramount Hotel Group takes the issue of security of guests' valuables seriously. Our security procedures operate to some of the highest standards in the industry.

"A secure safe is available to all guests at the Imperial and details on its use provided in our guest information pack.

"Even though our investigations have not indicated any security fault attributable to Paramount, its employees or agents, we have offered Mr Swales the maximum compensation applicable in such cases as a goodwill gesture."

Anyone with information can contact PC Scott McAlpine at Blackpool police on (01253) 293933.

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