Three sentenced for failed 'crash for cash' fraud

Three men have been sentenced for an unsuccessful car insurance scam worth more than £100,000.

Edwin White, 65, of Dibden Lane in Tewkesbury and Nicholas Ralph, 67, of Station Road in Cheltenham, deliberately staged a collision between an Aston Martin DB9 and a Peugeot 208 on 4 May 2018.

Clive Moore, 51, of Hanham Road in Bristol, acted as a false witness in an attempt to back up White and Ralph's false claims.

In August, a jury at Gloucester Crown Court found the men guilty of fraud by false representation and perverting the course of justice, following a three-week trial.

In his insurance claim to Direct Line Group (DLG), White said his Aston Martin hit a wall and a post after he swerved to avoid the Peugeot, which was driven by Ralph.

Ralph told his insurer, LV=, that he was swerving to avoid a pothole.

Both claimants alleged that they did not know each other and Ralph's claim was settled for £6,300.

White said he paid £59,995 for his Aston Martin and had purchased it in a very good condition, but insurance examinations found that the interior was in poor condition and the garage he bought it from did not routinely sell vehicles at such a high price.

White sent DLG a bank statement to prove he paid the figure, but when LV= enquired with his bank, the transaction could not be traced.

Inspectors dealing with Ralph's claim ruled that damage to the Peugeot was not consistent with hitting a pothole.

On July 9, White told DLG that he had the details of Moore, who witnessed the collision. In an interview with LV=, Moore said he had been driving behind the Aston Martin at the time of the incident.

On August 23, LV= received an invoice of £42,832 for car hire charges.

Due to the concerns around the validity of the claims, LV= cancelled Ralph's insurance police and asked him to repay the £6,300 compensation he received earlier in the investigation.

The following day, White's claim was rejected by DLG.

In September, the case was referred to the City of London Police's Insurance Fraud Enforcement Department (IFED) for investigation.

Call data, obtained by the team, showed that both claimants had been in contact with each other before and after the collision.

During sentencing on 19 December, White was jailed for 18 months.

Ralph was given a six-month sentence, suspended for 12 months, and ordered to pay £6,300 compensation to LV= and a fine of £1,000.

Moore was sentenced to a nine-month community order, a £1,000 fine and 100 hours of unpaid work.

Det Sgt Chris Jones, from the City of London Police's IFED said: "White and Ralph could have put themselves at risk of physical harm in the pursuit of insurance money.

"Cases like this demonstrate the greed of insurance fraudsters and the measures they will take for financial gain.

He added that "crash for cash fraud" has a knock-on effect to insurance premiums for other members of the public, with an average of more than £1.3m worth of false claims detected every day in 2023.

"Insurance fraud doesn't go unnoticed by the industry or law enforcement.

"We will work collaboratively to bring fraudsters to justice, as this case shows," he said.

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