Former claims manager sentenced to five years for stealing £1.8m from Indemnity Risk Solutions

A former claims manager has been sentenced to five years in jail after masterminding the theft of more than £1.8m from Indemnity Risk Solutions (IRS).

Martin Turner, 50, has been found guilty by the Inner London Crown Court for abusing his position of trust at IRS which is part of Ink Underwriting, a company owned by Arthur J. Gallagher. Turner doctored insurance claims emails over a four year period, from June 2012 until July 2016, in order to ensure payments were made to third parties for personal items and services including house renovations, luxury cars and to clear an existing mortgage.

The fraud escalated in October 2015 when Turner used a falsified letter which stated that he had been given a £500,000 bonus from his employer to try and secure funding for a house purchase.

The fraud was discovered as a result of the governance and control process within Arthur J. Gallagher and was immediately reported to the City of London Police. Subsequent analysis by the company’s financial crime team of Turner’s emails and payments authorised by Turner revealed the full extent of his fraud.

Detectives from the City of London Police’s fraud squad, working with Arthur J. Gallagher, uncovered more than 50 false payments made by the former claims manager to the value of £1,810,779. Turner was arrested on 22 July 2016.

Bill McGowan, chief counsel at Arthur J. Gallagher, said: “This fraud is theft, pure and simple, and we take theft and any other dishonest behaviour extremely seriously. The criminal actions orchestrated by Martin Turner were identified through our enhanced governance and control procedures and did not involve any theft from customers.

“We have been working closely with the authorities to secure this conviction and we welcome this verdict.”

Peter Burt, from the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) specialist fraud division, said: “Martin Turner stole £1.8million from his employer in order to fund an expensive lifestyle involving luxury cars and home improvements. Working as an insurance claims manager, he arranged multiple payments into his own bank accounts but an internal investigation uncovered his fraud.

“The CPS worked with police from an early stage in order to build the strongest possible case and faced with the evidence against him, Turner pleaded guilty.”

Detective constable Simon Cordell said:“Turner was a man driven by greed who took advantage of his position in the company to give himself a lifestyle beyond his means. In order to ensure a thorough investigation took place, we worked closely with his former employer, Arthur J. Gallagher, who helped us to uncover the full extent of Turner’s criminality.

“Today’s result shows that it is never worth trying to pull the wool over your employer’s eyes, and defrauding them could result in you ending up behind bars.”

Mark Dugdale