Fake car-crash trio could face prison
Bolton Evening News / 23rd December 2008
A JUDGE has warned a couple and their business partner they may face jail after they faked a car crash to claim tens of thousands of pounds from an insurance company.

At Bolton Crown Court yesterday, a jury of seven women and five men unanimously found Musharaf Dean, aged 32, his wife, Rehana, aged 31, and Luqman Patel, aged 22, guilty of conspiracy to defraud.

Patel, of Sunninghill Street, Daubhill, and the Deans, of Baysdale Avenue, Deane, had denied the accusation.

After the verdict, Judge Stephen Everett told the jury the evidence had been “very strong”.

He said: “It was overwhelming, wasn’t it? I wholeheartedly agree with your verdict.”

The Deans were joint directors of Nationwide Car Care Ltd, in Derby Street, Bolton, which hires out cars to people who have been involved in accidents.

The court had heard how the defendants, together with David Sleigh, aged 47, and Caroline Catley, aged 33, had claimed they had been involved in a car crash on July 2, 2002, at the junction of Derby Street and Venice Street, Bolton.

The conspirators claimed Catley, with her partner Sleigh in the passenger seat, had driven a Ford Escort into the back of a Vectra, driven by Rehana Dean, which in turn was shunted into the side of a BMW car driven by Patel.

But a vehicle examiner said the damage to the cars was not consistent with their story and when an accident investigator visited Sleigh and Catley they admitted the crash had not happened.

The Deans and Patel had stood to gain £82,000, but the Deans abandoned their claims when they were taken to Bolton County Court by Zurich Insurance, and Patel’s claim was dropped after he could not answer the company’s questions.

Catley and Sleigh, of Moorside Avenue, Farnworth pleaded guilty to fraud and gave evidence against the defendants at their trial.

All five will be sentenced at Bolton Crown Court on March 2, but Judge Everett warned the Deans and Patel that although they have been remanded on bail he is considering several sentencing options, including prison.

After the trial, Peter Hodgson, from Zurich’s claims investigation unit said: “This should act as a deterrent to other would-be fraudsters. We have no sympathy for these people.”