Made up: £100,000 car crash fraud unveiled

Manchester Crown Court has convicted members of a ‘crash for cash’ gang after a broken down car led them to file a series of bogus insurance claims.

Stephen Eatherall and his friends made fraudulent claims for personal injuries and repairs which were the result of a completely made up accident involving Mr Eatherall’s Range Rover. The claims from the group exceeded a staggering £100,000 with one individual receiving more than £30,000 from his insurers.

It was a friend of Mr Eatherall, John Lee Cody who offered him the ‘solution’ when his car broke down on the M62. Unable to afford the repairs he went along with the plan and shortly afterwards received written details of an invented car crash involving his Range Rover and an Audi belonging to Mr Cody. At the time of the alleged incident however the Range Rover wasn’t even able to move.

“Insurance scams aren’t always the work of organised criminals. Sometimes people simply see making a fraudulent claim as the answer to their problems. Bottom line, however, is that fraud is fraud and the consequences can be extremely severe for those who go along with it,” said Jane Peters who is head of Operations at AGS Risk Solutions.

Ultimately an investigation by Mr Eatherall’s insurer, Zurich unveiled the scam. Three men involved in the con have now been jailed and Mr Eatherall who pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit fraud is awaiting sentencing.

PC Vaughan Sherrah-Davies said: “For too long opportunists like the people who have been sentenced today have thought that the insurance industry is an easy target for frauds such as this, but this case shows that there is now a strong commitment among insurers and the civil and criminal justice systems, to stamp this trend out for good.”