A 64-year-old man who made false insurance claims for supposed neck and knee injuries has been convicted and handed a suspended sentence.
The Wigan Magistrates’ Court found Philip Garvin guilty of providing false account information on two separate occasions in order to make false insurance protection claims worth over £5,500, after the case was referred to the City of London Police’s Insurance Fraud Enforcement Department (IFED).
Garvin was sentenced to 12 months’ imprisonment, suspended for two years, with a 12-month home curfew from 7pm to 7am.
Police said Garvin made his first false claim in August 2012 against a policy he took with Trent Services in June that same year. Garvin claimed that he could not work because he had “sustained a neck injury.” He provided a false set of earnings and the claim was denied as evidence showed that this injury had been ongoing prior to him taking out the policy.
In June 2014, Garvin made a false claim against a policy he had taken with Cardif Pinnacle two years prior. Garvin said he had been unable to work from June 09, 2014 “due to a knee injury.” In the claim, documents containing Garvin’s proof of earnings for the time period he was claiming for were submitted by a “Mark Kingston”, who was allegedly Garvin’s accountant.
A police investigation revealed that the telephone number Kingston had provided was a second number owned and used by Garvin, and the address that Kingston had provided was an address that Garvin had leased since 2002.
Accountancy bodies ACCA and AAT both confirmed that no person by the name of Mark Kingston had been registered with them at that address.
Cardif Pinnacle denied his claim, as the firm believed that he provided falsified and fraudulent accountancy documents. Police said Garvin refused to comply when asked to provide 12 months’ proof of his earnings. He repeatedly contacted Cardif Pinnacle and gave different email addresses on which they could supposedly reach Kingston.
In court, Garvin denied creating ‘Mark Kingston’ and his earnings to show falsified earnings in order to make a fraudulent claim against Cardif Pinnacle, stating instead that Kingston was the cause of the problems regarding his claim.
“Motivated by greed, this man tried to manipulate the insurance system, but this case highlights the fact that insurance fraud is a serious crime that will not go unpunished,” said Detective Constable Jamie Kirk of IFED. “We are pleased that this case has come to a close and justice has been served.”
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