Gang from Merseyside caught after fabricating car crash claim

Eight Merseyside men have been found guilty of attempting to make more than £500,000 from fraudulent insurance claims.

Brian Williams, Michael Lee, Jon-Paul Realey, David Thompson, Robert Davies and three other men admitted making up an accident and then submitting bogus claims to LV=.

Williams and Lee were jailed for eight and 12 months respectively, while Realey, Thompson and Davies received suspended jail terms following an investigation by the City of London Police’s Insurance Fraud Enforcement Department (IFED).

Back in January 2010, Williams had reported to his insurer that he was driving his Vauxhall Vectra with three passengers in the car when he skidded and crashed into a BMW X5. LV= was informed there were also four people in the BMW at the time of the alleged incident, the driver Lee and three passengers – Realey, Thompson and Davies.

The eight men subsequently submitted claims to LV= for whiplash type injuries, while Williams and Lee also sought payment for their cars, which they said had been written-off. In addition, Lee claimed £250 per day for car hire replacement costs. There were also claims for recovery and storage fees from a claims management company, Car Logix.

However, the fabricated claim began to unravel when a forensic examination of the vehicles revealed that the damage sustained could not have been caused by the supposed collision that the men had described to the insurer. Furthermore, one of the men went off script when he said that the accident had happened in the afternoon during a medical examination. The others had said that it took place in the evening.

Eventually, the attempted fraud collapsed when the three men who said they had been in Williams’ Vauxhall admitted they had not been involved in any accident.

Williams, Lee, Realey, Thompson and Davies were subsequently charged with and pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit fraud by false representation.

Mark Dugdale