Derbyshire men found guilty of 'crash for cash' fraud

Four Derbyshire men have today been found guilty of a 'crash for cash' scam.
Nottingham Crown Court.Nottingham Crown Court.
Nottingham Crown Court.

A fifth man has also been found guilty of fraud offences while seven other people had already pleaded guilty.

The convictions follow a three-and-a-half year investigation, which began in 2013, investigating a group who set up a vehicle recovery company to defraud drivers by making false injury claims.

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Police officers, working with the Insurance Fraud Bureau (IFB), uncovered a number of ‘cash for crash’ claims which took place between November 2011 and March 2013. This is where the offending driver slams on the brakes of their vehicle, which then causes an innocent member of the public to run into the back of them.

Detective Constable Kevan Handley, who led the investigation, said: “The group of people at the centre of this investigation made fraudulent claims for injuries, damage caused to their vehicles and the costs of recovering and storing the damaged vehicles.

“The guilty verdicts given by the jury today hopefully sends out a message that this type of crime will be taken seriously, investigated thoroughly and will not be tolerated.”

The gang were today found guilty following a trial at Nottingham Crown Court.

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Ben Fletcher, Director of the Insurance Fraud Bureau (IFB), said: “Crash for cash has a real impact on society and puts innocent members of the public at risk of serious injury. There is not only a physical impact but also significant cost associated, as we estimate crash for cash costs the industry £336m per year. This puts a financial burden on insurers and ultimately premium-paying motorists.

“IFB, alongside the insurance industry and police, are determined to uncover cross-industry insurance fraud and today’s convictions send a clear message - if you are committing fraud the risk of being caught and prosecuted is very real.”

The five people found guilty of conspiracy to commit fraud are Adeel Aziz, 27, of Colwyn Avenue, Normanton; Darminder Singh Nagra, 47, of Gregory's Way, Belper; Davinder Singh Nagra, 40, of Arkwright Avenue, Belper; Adam Stark, 26, of Trenton Drive, Long Eaton and Arsalaan Hussain, 28, of New Street, Brierley, Bradford.

Stark was also found guilty of perverting the course of justice.

They will be sentenced over two days in April.

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A sixth man, Tusaf Ahmed, 32, of Colwyn Avenue, Normanton, was also on trial but found not guilty of the conspiracy.

Seven people had already pleaded guilty to a charge of conspiracy to commit fraud in connection to the case. They are Muhammed Tanzil Asghar, 28, of Harrington Street, Pear Tree, Derby; Martin Walker, 29, of Hopton Close, Ripley; Dorothy Bacon, 28, of Cedar Avenue, Ripley; Liam Swinfield, 22, of Northfield Avenue, Sawley; Anthony Walker, 22, of Loscoe Road, Heanor; Nicola Rae Brown, 24, of Edinburgh Court, Alfreton; and Naseer Ahmed, 26, of Ferris Road, Sheffield.