Obtaining insurance
Title: Theft
Offence: Obtaining property by deception - insurance fraud
Legislation: S15 Theft Act 1968
Commencement Date:
Mode of Trial: Either Way
Statutory Limitations & Maximum Penalty: 10 years
Sentencing Range:
Culpability & Harm
- Substantial claim
- Substantial loss
- Claim entirely fraudulent
- Planning
- Offending carried out over a long period
- Offender acting with others
- Offender recruited others
- Offender prime mover
- Motivated by greed or desire to live beyond his or her means
- Commit or arrange original offence
Aggravating & Mitigating Factors
None
Relevant Sentencing Guidelines (If Any)
None
Relevant Sentencing Case Law
R v Bedding and others (1995) 16 Cr.App.R.(S.) 101 B6-33C12
Pleaded guilty to conspiring to obtain by deception. The defendant obtained insurance to cover jewellery that did not exist, staged a false burglary and claimed £16K. 12 and 6 months.
R v Michael (1990) 12 Cr.App.R.(S.) 223 B6-33C07
Pleaded guilty to one count of obtaining property by deception and one of attempting to obtain property by deception. The defendant made two false claims maintaining that watches and jewellery worth £3K had been stolen in two burglaries. Total 6 months.
R v Thomas (1994) 16 Cr.App.R.(S.) 539 B6-33C11
Pleaded guilty to obtaining by deception. The defendant was burgled and inflated the insurance claim by £900. 4 months.
R v Dover (1995) 16 Cr.App.R.(S.) 61 B6-33C13
Pleaded guilty to two counts of forgery, one of procuring the execution of a valuable security by deception, and one of theft. The defendant was chairman of a company responsible for managing a block of flats, which were damaged in storms. He submitted inflated invoices and obtained £4K. 5 months.
R v Ellis [1999] 1 Cr.App.R.(S.) 374 B6-33C16
Convicted of one count of conspiracy to commit arson and nine counts of conspiracy to defraud. The defendant set fire to his warehouse and claimed £2 million for stock supposedly destroyed. 7 years.
R v Mehboob [2000] 2 Cr.App.R.(S.) 343 B6-33C17
Convicted of four offences of conspiracy to defraud and pleaded guilty to three further similar offences. The defendant staged false car accidents and made seven claims for £34K. Serious conspiracies with corrupting elements. The defendant had been really in starting this whole exercise off and remaining at the centre of it. He was the person to whom the others in the locality where he was so well-known would come, he was the person who facilitated the commission of these offences, and it was in that, over this substantial period of time that the real seriousness of these offences lay. 4 years.
R v MUNNS [1992] 13 Cr.App.R.(S.) 470
Pleaded guilty to obtaining property by deception. The defendant used his car for parts and falsely claimed that it had been stolen. The insurance company paid out £3925. 6 months.
R v NALL-CAIN (Lord Brockett) [1998] 2 Cr.App.R.(S.) 145
Pleaded guilty to conspiracy to defraud and obtaining by deception. The defendant exaggerated the value of his cars by £1.5 million, staged a false burglary and used the cars for spares. Insurers did not pay out. 5 years.
R v MORGAN [1994] 16 Cr.App.R.(S.) 478
Pleaded guilty to three counts of attempting to obtain by deception. The defendant falsely reported the death of his wife and claimed £200K on her life policy. No money paid out. Sophisticated fraud. 2 years.
R v LUSHER [1995] 16 Cr.App.R.(S.) 313
Pleaded guilty to attempting to obtain by deception and perjury. The defendant produced various documents from the Philippines purporting to show that his wife had died there. Claims were made on four insurance policies for sums amounting to £155,000 and the defendant swore an affidavit to obtain probate in respect of his wife's estate. Surrendered himself. 2 years.
R v HURST [2004] 1 Cr.App.R.(S.) 80
Pleaded guilty to conspiracy to defraud. The defendant made a claim on his insurance after a relative set fire to a factory that he thought was failing. The defendant was not involved in the starting of the fire. 18 months.
Ancillary Orders:
Restitution
Compensation
Consider Also:
POCA
Financial Reporting Order S15 SOCA 2005
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