Byline: JAMES KELLY
A GREEDY British Airways worker has been suspended for trying to make a fortune out of England's World Cup players as they returned home from Australia.
Baggage handler Neil Cook grabbed souvenirs - including three shirts signed by the team and each of the players' autographed BA boarding passes - items experts claim could rocket in value to pounds 250,000.
Despite an exhausting 20-hour flight from Sydney, the players, including Jonny Wilkinson, skipper Martin Johnson and try-scorer Jason Robinson, happily signed the items.
Experts say one of the shirts could be worth pounds 60,000 in years to come, with Wilkinson's pass fetching pounds 10,000 and Johnson's pounds 8,000.
Cook planned to line his own pockets by selling the lot on Internet site Ebay.
As hundreds of bids for the 15 lots started mounting up, the 31-year-old - who used his job's privileged access rights to mingle with the players - dreamed of raising enough cash to put down a deposit on a new house.
But then his furious bosses at Heathrow got wind of the racket.
Yesterday he was grounded at home in Walton-on-Thames, Surrey. And he has been forced to withdraw all the items from the Internet site.
As a company inquiry got under way, a BA source said: "We don't expect our staff to behave like this. One or two signatures for the kids is fine - but selling them in this fashion is not on."
CAPTION(S):
CAPTAIN: Johnson
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