Fraudsters sentenced in 'crash for cash' case

A TOTAL of 25 people have been sentenced for their part in one of Britain's biggest ever "crash for cash" insurance scams.

The group, led by butcher Darren Duvall, conspired to defraud thousands of pounds in insurance claims from Allianz Cornhill, Liverpool Crown Court was told.

Duvall sought out workers at cable TV company NTL, now part of Virgin Media, and persuaded them to pretend they had crashed their company cars into another vehicle which was packed with passengers.

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Once the NTL employee had accepted responsibility for the collision, the "victims" were to claim the cash and split the compensation.

But insurance fraud investigators were quickly alerted to the scam and established the car crashes never actually took place. Damage to vehicles was faked and the injured passengers were coached in what to tell medics and lawyers.

Duvall, of Childwall, Liverpool, who devised the scheme was jailed for three years.

His "second in command" Alan Bradley, 41, of Tuebrook, Liverpool, who convinced friends and family to pose as victims, was jailed for 34 weeks.

The four men who worked for NTL and pretended they had crashed their vehicles into another car were also jailed while others received fines, community penalties and suspended sentences.

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