R v McKenzie [2013] EWCA Crim 1544
McKenzie and two co-accused concocted a bogus insurance
claim based on a fictitious road accident in which they claimed to have
sustained whiplash injuries. Their claims
amounted to £33,000. They were charged with
and convicted of fraud. The police
investigations revealed that D was part of a ring of 70 people who perpetrated
these scams and that he had committed 24 similar frauds.
McKenzie was sentenced to 15 months imprisonment and ordered
to pay £3,242.00 towards the prosecution costs.
His appeal against sentence was dismissed but the costs contribution
order was reduced to £1,500 to take into account his reduced financial
circumstances.
This case demonstrates that the law is perfectly capable of
protecting insurer’s interests where it is properly applied. No doubt this prosecution was made possible
due to improved intra-insurer co-operation and the use of an anti-fraud
database. Further progress could be made
if insurers co-operated with the legal profession in tackling fraud. Insurers need to be more proactive bringing
private prosecutions where the Police don’t.
The insurance industry’s current policy of disparaging genuine whiplash
injury victims and portraying minor whiplash injury claims as being synonymous
with a fraudulent claim is as unfounded as it is disingenuous.
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