SCAMSTERS plotted to cheat insurance companies out of £100,000 with a string of staged and ‘ghost’ traffic accidents.
Using damaged vehicles bought from salvage yards, Burton ringleader Shabir Mohammed recruited family and friends to claim for phoney injuries like whiplash.
In one staged-managed accident, a stolen Mini pulled out in front of a car transporter which could not avoid a rear-end shunt.
Another bogus claim involved a written-off Toyota Shabir bought from a scrap yard in Doncaster and insured under false details. Shabir recruited his sister, Nabila Kousar, and her husband, taxi driver Iftikar Hussain, to be the injured occupants from a ‘mythical accident’.
The couple and eight ‘willing lieutenants’ — all from the Burton area — were jailed, although three women, including Nabila, had theirs suspended because they have young children.
Judge Michael Challinor told all 10: “Each of you were prepared to lie on claims forms for your own ends, for accidents that had not occurred and injuries not sustained.
“The overall monetary loss would have been somewhere in the region of £100,000, but there is also the damage to the integrity of the insurance system.
“This type of fraud is difficult to detect. This impacts on ordinary motorists, who see their premiums rise inexorably.
“The message must go out that people who involve themselves in this large-scale, bogus insurance fraud will receive prison sentences.” The claimants included Lee Rankin, owner of Swadlincote Motors, son Craig and daughter Amy.
Others were Shabir’s then partner, Sarah Wheeldon; Craig Rankin’s girlfriend, Gemma Chisholm, her brother, Liam, plus Kelly Tunks, a friend of Amy Rankin, and Claire Blouddyn, girlfriend of coconspirator Asif Khan.
All admitted conspiracy to defraud.
Shabir, 37, of Uxbridge Street, Burton, was remanded in custody to be sentenced later.
Khan, 25, of Grants Yard, Burton, who also admitted conspiracy to produce cannabis, was sentenced separately and given 12 months’ jail, suspended for 18 months, with 180 hours’ unpaid work. He had already served a lengthy custodial sentence.
Lee Rankin, 47, of Burton Road, Woodville, was jailed for a year; his son Craig, 21, of Meadow View Road, Newhall, Blouddyn, 26, of Grants Yard, and Iftikar, 40, of Uxbridge Street, each got nine months.
Liam Chisholm, 22, his sister Gemma, 21, both of Forest Road, Dunstall, and Tunks, 22, of Heron Drive, Woodville, were each jailed for six months.
Amy Rankin, 27, of Elmsleigh Drive, Midway, and Nabila, 33, of Uxbridge Street, each had their nine months’ jail suspended for 18 months and were ordered to do unpaid work.
Wheeldon, 24, of Calgary Crescent, Burton, had her six-month sentence suspended for 18 months, with 150 hours’ unpaid work.
Another conspirator, Ibrar Ismail, 34, of Uxbridge Street, Burton, was jailed for 12 months earlier this year.
Anthony Potter, prosecuting, said the scam was discovered during police raids on Shabir’s home and his business on Swadlincote industrial estate in November 2009.
Three claimants received personal injury payments — Nabila £1,950, her husband £1,800 and Amy Rankin £3,500 for ‘whiplash’.
Some got cold feet when faced with more forms or medical examinations, while other claims were stopped because of police intervention.
Simon Phillips, for Gemma Chisholm, said: “She was used as a patsy to pull the wool over the insurance companies’ eyes.” Richard Atkins, for Liam Chisholm, said he was on his way home from a probation appointment when he was involved in a real accident which cost him more than £4,000.
Darron Whitehead, for Blouddyn, said no money was transferred to her.
“Her details were used for a mythical road accident.” Steve Hennessy, defending, said Lee Rankin refused to go for a medical examination and ignored the correspondence from the insurance company.
He was on the verge of bankruptcy and saw it as a way of relieving the financial pressure.
Medico-Legal News Source: Burton Mail
