Episode 4 Claimed and Shamed


Episode 4

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Insurance fraud in the UK is reaching epidemic levels,

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and it's costing us billions of pounds a year.

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Deliberate crashes,

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bogus personal injury claims,

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even fake deaths.

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The fraudsters are risking more and more to make a quick killing

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and every year, it's adding up to £50 to your insurance bill.

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Insurers are fighting back.

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Armed with covert surveillance systems...

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How they think they can get away with it, I don't know,

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when the evidence from the camera is so clear.

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..sophisticated data analysis techniques...

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This is connected to a bank account and a second mobile phone number.

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..and a newly formed, dedicated police unit...

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Police! Step back!

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..they're catching the criminals red handed.

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All those conmen, scammers, cheats on the fiddle,

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now they're caught in the act

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and claimed and shamed.

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Today, a fire investigation team

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searches for clues amongst the ashes.

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Mr Ross's factory was totally destroyed.

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The Met Police execute a raid on a small business...

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..and insurance fraud enters the art world.

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25% of my pieces will have some insurance fraud element to it.

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It's just after 9pm on 19th August 2009.

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A massive fire has engulfed a carpet warehouse

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at the Knowsley Industrial Park, Liverpool.

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"Fire service."

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"Oh, hi, listen, I'm just working late and my warehouse is on fire

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"and all outside is on fire."

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On the night the call came in,

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it was about five past nine in the evening

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a fire was reported by a treble nine call.

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It...it's literally...

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-HE SIGHS

-..sorry.

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Are you OK?

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Initially, the Merseyside Fire Department

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dispatched two fire engines to deal with the blaze.

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On arrival, Fire Officer Myles Platt knew they would need more help.

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I got called to the incident as it was developing.

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I quickly assessed the scene.

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I realised that this was a significant blaze.

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It was a warm summer's evening, there was a strong wind blowing

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and this intense fire was spread over a large geographical area.

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I very quickly realised that we'd need to get

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a lot of assets down there on the ground

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to actually deal with this incident and ultimately extinguish it.

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The Merseyside Fire Department arrives to find warehouse owner,

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Elliot Ross, watching his business go up in flames.

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'There was a wide impact.'

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So the significant blaze, there was real fear of that spreading

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to the adjacent properties

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and the amount of water and resources that we got

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over a fairly long period of time actually to contain that blaze.

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The fire was so intense, six other businesses on the estate

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had their buildings damaged by the blaze.

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It took 12 fire engines to tame the flames.

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You've actually got palettes and machinery that's on fire.

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You've got vehicles in another geographical location

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which are on fire.

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We had to shut down roads to access water supplies,

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to make the public safe.

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The destruction to the carpet warehouse was so extensive

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business owner, Elliot Ross,

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would need to file an insurance claim of £200,000

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to cover the damage.

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The Merseyside Fire Department knew that the fire

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had started in three places.

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This is very unlikely to occur without human intervention.

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Someone had deliberately tried to destroy Mr Elliot's warehouse.

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'It's a massive operation.'

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This was a large protracted incident

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as a result of somebody setting a fire deliberately.

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It had become an arson investigation.

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The case was handed to a brand-new team, named Flare.

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Set up in June 2009, Flare is a joint police and fire brigade unit

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tasked with investigating cases of commercial arson.

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The team investigating this arson was headed up

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by Fire Marshall Mark Schuler and DC Karen Nixon.

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Mark and I attended the fire the following morning.

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There were still a lot of fire appliances tending the fire.

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There was huge, huge damage.

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A number of businesses were affected, one was partly destroyed.

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Mr Ross's factory was totally destroyed.

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So it was a scene of devastation.

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The Flare unit discovered the fire had been started

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by three disposable barbecues.

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These barbecues became the starting point for their investigation.

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'There were two of those placed in the pallet yard,

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'which was the adjoining business'

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and there was one left on the windowsill of Mr Ross's warehouse.

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Two of the barbecues had been destroyed by the fire,

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but the one left on the window sill was only half burnt.

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This barbecue became crucial to the investigation.

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That barbecue had been stacked with a number of items

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which were extremely significant

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and of great value to our investigation

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and they included a whole toilet roll,

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a couple of newspapers and a piece of cardboard,

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which subsequently was found to be the wrapping of a pair of gloves.

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We were able to take those very small fragments

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and be able to back-track them and source where they'd come from.

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The half-burnt toilet roll from the barbecue

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was sent to a forensic team.

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Its composition was compared against 44 other types of toilet roll.

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The results were very interesting. The burnt toilet paper

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exactly matched rolls stored at the warehouse.

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The toilet roll that was recovered from the barbecue at the seat

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of the fire was identical to the toilet rolls that Mr Elliot Ross had

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in his premises and nobody else had those, so it was a very strong link.

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This revealed that the fire was started by someone

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who had access to the warehouse.

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Warehouse owner Elliot Ross was now on the shortlist of suspects.

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To narrow the list,

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Flare turned its attention to another item

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in the half-burnt barbecue.

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Amongst the disposable barbecue at that location

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there was a small fragment of cardboard.

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We found out that was actually part of a packaging

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for a protective glove.

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The card had come from a box of latex gloves.

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Crucially, the piece of card had a web address on it,

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that of the manufacturer.

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The Flare unit contacted the glove makers.

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They were able to tell us that the glove packaging was theirs

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and they made them for a well-known large supermarket chain.

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Significantly for us,

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that particular packaging had only been available

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from May of that year,

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so there was only 43 sales of those gloves in the Merseyside area.

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It actually gave us one purchase of gloves

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that was the night before the arson attack

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and it was actually at a large supermarket

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which was near to where Mr Ross lived.

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From just fragments of evidence,

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the Flare unit had found a prime suspect...

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warehouse owner, Elliot Ross.

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But they would need much more conclusive evidence

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to prove their suspicions.

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Technology was to provide the next breakthrough.

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The Flare unit was granted access to information

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about Mr Ross's mobile phone.

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Specifically they had a map

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where the phone was each time it had been used.

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We were able to put Mr Ross within 900 metres of that supermarket

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on that evening

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and then subsequently to that, we got further information,

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which enabled us to actually put him outside

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and then inside that supermarket at the time of the purchase.

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The Flare Unit knew it was close and needed one last piece of evidence.

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So, they went back to the supermarket

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to ask for a detailed list of purchases

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from the night before the fire.

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From that, The Flare Unit discovered

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that Mr Ross had made purchases in the store.

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Very incriminating purchases.

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A bottle of flammable liquid.

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Some extra-long matches.

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And most importantly,

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the box of latex gloves whose packaging was found

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stuffed in the half-burnt barbecue.

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The Flare Unit had got its man.

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At Liverpool Crown Court, Elliot Ross pleaded not guilty,

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but after a four-week trial, the jury reached their verdict.

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He was sentenced to five-and-a-half years in prison.

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Maybe it wasn't his intention to cause so much damage,

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but he didn't know the risk he was going to place to fire-fighters

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that had to tackle those two seats of fire simultaneously.

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He didn't think about that, did he?

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I do think Elliot Ross understood the seriousness of his actions.

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I believe that he planned the fire carefully

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and that he set it with a view

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to causing considerable damage in his property

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so he could make a fraudulent claim and defraud the insurance company

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and I do believe he knew what he was doing when he did it.

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The Met Police move in on a suspected fraud gang.

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And a bus company faces a whiplash claim.

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It looks as though the UK public

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have got the weakest necks in Europe.

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If you are involved in a road traffic accident,

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you might be approached by an accident management company.

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An honest accident management company

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will help to process your insurance forms,

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provide a hire car whilst yours is being fixed

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and help with any claims for personal injury

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you may have suffered.

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However, the last ten years has seen a dramatic rise in fraudulent accident management companies.

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Not just helping, but encouraging people to make fraudulent claims.

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The rise of these rogue businesses isn't being left unchecked.

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This is the home of the Met Traffic Unit.

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Set up in 2009, this specialist department

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is committed to reducing the number of traffic related deaths,

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injuries and crimes on London's roads.

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My team will use every method available in order to catch them -

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overt tactics, covert tactics, the helicopter.

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Any tactic that we can think of, we will use to catch these people.

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One of their missions is to eradicate fraudulent accident management companies.

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Today the traffic unit is executing a multiple location raid

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on an accident management company that's believed to be involved in fraudulent activity.

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We're hoping to execute a search warrant and arrest a director

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of an accident management company that we believe, or certainly suspect,

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has been involved in arranging induced collisions.

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Of course, part of today will be to obtain the evidence to support our suspicions.

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We've certainly been investigating them

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for some eight to nine months now.

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So we're quite happy that they're involved in criminality.

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The small business being raided is suspected to be orchestrating induced collisions,

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also known as "crash for cash".

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"Crash for cash" is a term given to collisions executed in order to make money from motor insurance policies.

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And it's big business - there are an estimated 30,000

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crash for cash incidents per year on Britain's roads,

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valued at least £350 million,

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adding an average of £44 to your motor insurance bill every year.

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Also from the Met Traffic Unit is DC Eastick.

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I'll have, um, one uniform with me going in. Yeah.

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I don't think the bell works.

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KNOCKS ON DOOR

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It's the police. Can you open up, please?

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There's no sign of the suspect.

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If he's in, he's not opening the door.

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I don't think there's anyone in.

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We've got a warrant so we can have a look inside.

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We'll go and get the enforcer round to try and do the door

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because we've got two locks on.

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That lock's on and that lock's on so I think it's going to be a bit of a struggle to open it now.

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A local unit is called to batter the door down.

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If you want a hand, this chap here will do the biz for us.

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INDISTINCT CHATTER

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Great. Well done, mate.

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-There you go, sir, it's all done.

-It's all clear. There's nobody in.

-Oh, right.

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We've come to the address. The man we're looking for is not present

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but we've forced entry because we've got a search warrant,

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and we're just in the process of searching the premises

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for any evidence related to what we're investigating.

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The Traffic Unit starts the search for evidence of fraud.

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We're really looking for documentary evidence.

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We're looking for anything in relation to claims.

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So, evidence of documents and mobile phones?

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Very soon the team accumulates what they came for.

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We found quite a lot of documents, a lot of banking documents

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and a lot of documents in relation to accidents,

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even accidents that the actual person's had,

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that actually owns the flat, or lives in the flat.

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And, er, there are a lot of SIM Cards in there as well,

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so I'm interested to know what that's regarding.

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Perhaps he's selling them on, or perhaps that's part of a larger conspiracy.

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DI Hindmarsh leaves the raid location.

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He heads off to oversee the search of the HQ of the accident claims company.

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The Met Traffic Unit continues its search for evidence.

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We've got two vehicles that we believe

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have been used in this particular crime.

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We're going to seize them.

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Your car insurance doesn't just cover the cost of vehicle repair,

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it will also pay your medical bills if you suffer an injury whilst driving.

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The most common injury sustained in a motor vehicle incident is whiplash.

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The most common form of whiplash injury

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that I see in my surgery results from a rear-shunt car accident,

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where the head gets forcibly thrown backwards and then forwards.

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That causes the muscles and the ligaments in the neck and shoulder

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to stretch more than normal

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and that causes pain and inflammation.

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Despite improvements in car safety features,

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in the UK, whiplash claims are at an all-time high.

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Around about 76% of all bodily injury claims

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that we receive are for whiplash claims.

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Insurers are paying out nearly £2 billion a year to the claimants.

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The cost to the NHS of treating whiplash

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has been estimated at £8 million a year.

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It looks as though the UK public have got the weakest necks in Europe.

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It's 7 February, 2008,

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and the route 9 bus is navigating the busy roads of Luton.

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Part way through its journey, it's obstructed by a badly-parked car.

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The driver makes a mistake.

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He was confronted by a Golf which was parked at a very strange, awkward angle

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so he had to slow right down

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and wait for approaching traffic to go by

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before he could try and manoeuvre around it.

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Unfortunately, as he manoeuvred around it,

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he misjudged the situation and he caught the car as he went by.

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The owner of the car, Shazma Dad,

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takes the details of the Arriva bus and its driver.

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Our driver, after the incident,

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quite rightly accepted that the accident was his fault

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and filled in the report form.

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Within seven days of that incident,

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a solicitor's letter arrived at Arriva.

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That letter was claiming not only for the damage to the vehicle

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but it was also claiming for personal injury.

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Miss Dad reported that the incident had left her with whiplash

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and difficulty in sleeping.

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She was now seeking financial compensation from the bus company.

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As a matter of course, the claims handler compared Miss Dad's account of events

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against the bus driver's report.

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The bus driver's report stated that no-one was in the car

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at the time of the incident.

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Possibly something that could be resolved by one of

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the nine cameras on the Arriva bus.

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And the rear view camera revealed

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that Miss Dad was not in her car at the moment it was struck,

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confirming the bus driver's report.

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So where was she?

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The rear-view camera showed our driver getting out of his bus,

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walking back to the car, looking around,

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going into the nearby shop, walking back out with Miss Dad.

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So Miss Dad was not in her car at the time of the accident.

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In fact, she only learnt of the scrape

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after she'd been found, by the bus driver, in a nearby shop.

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Amazingly, Miss Dad had still had the nerve to claim for whiplash.

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On being confronted with the CCTV evidence, Miss Dad withdrew her claim

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and paid costs and damages to the bus company.

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But that wasn't the end of it for her.

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We were not prepared to let it rest there.

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We want to send out a clear message to people

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that they should not try and defraud Arriva.

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So we passed the papers to the Bedfordshire Police

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and they decided to prosecute her for fraud.

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Shazma Dad pleaded guilty and was given a conditional discharge.

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I guess that bus companies are regarded by some people

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as an easy target, but what I should make clear to them

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is that bus companies are not easy targets

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and in fact we are at the forefront of the fight against fraud.

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Insurance fraud isn't all about car crashes and phoney neck injuries.

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Sometimes it targets the finer things in life.

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This is the headquarters of the Art Loss Register -

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a specialist team based in central London.

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When a piece of artwork is lost or stolen anywhere in the world,

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the Art Loss Register team make it their mission

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to track it down and get it back.

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They are led by New York lawyer, Chris Marinello.

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We are everywhere, in every art market throughout the world,

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but we're really a small team

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of about 15 to 20 people.

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Chris and his crack team of investigators

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will do whatever it takes to retrieve stolen art.

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I coordinate with law enforcement, other lawyers, theft victims,

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sometimes setting up sting operations

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in conjunction with law enforcement.

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Basically I'm the person who recovers the art work.

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Sometimes the Art Loss Register helps in the fight against fraud.

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It used to be that 98% of my cases were simple stolen art cases

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that were in need of our recovery services,

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but now maybe 25% will have some insurance fraud element to it.

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One piece of art that came to its attention

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was this 16th century drawing -

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Portrait Of A Man Wearing A Ruff by Ottavio Leoni.

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Leoni is not as well known as Picasso or Michelangelo

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but his work is very detailed and very popular.

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He comes from a school of Italian Renaissance artists

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that were doing a lot of drawings in preparation for more major works.

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In 1993, the portrait was stolen from an art dealer's home.

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After an initial investigation, the Leoni was nowhere to be found.

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The art dealer received a £10,000 pay-out from her insurance company

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and the details of the stolen art

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went on the books of the Art Loss Register.

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Art is easy to steal. It's transportable, it's... You can hide it easily.

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19 years after its disappearance, the portrait reappeared.

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It was now on the books of London auction house, Sotheby's.

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Sotheby's were unaware that the portrait was stolen,

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but the Art Loss Register were 100% aware.

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Back in January 2012, we spotted this piece

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when we were doing routine checking for Sotheby's,

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and this item matched perfectly with one that had been reported stolen to us in 1993.

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We contacted the auction house, told them of the match.

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They pulled the item from the sale, allowing us to sort the matter out.

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Chris had contact details for the person selling the portrait

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but no idea how they'd come by the piece or what kind of person they were.

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He had to tread carefully -

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the person who had put the item up for sale could easily be involved

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in some seriously nasty crimes.

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Stolen art trades in the underworld

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at a rate of maybe 5% or 10% of the true value of the artwork.

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And they also barter amongst themselves for drugs,

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and for weapons, and then we've seen some hard evidence

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of connection to international terrorism and the antiquities trade.

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Despite the unknown background of the seller,

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Chris decided to contact them directly.

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It transpired that the seller wasn't involved in underworld activity,

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but Chris was surprised at their response to his inquiry.

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I said, "Look, um, you're selling a stolen work of art"

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and she said, "Oh, no, no, no, I'm not doing that at all. This was stolen from me."

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And I said, "Oh, that's interesting, so you're our theft victim."

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The woman was both the current seller

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and the victim of the 1993 theft.

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This was a major surprise to Chris.

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He was determined to get to the bottom of where the painting had been for the last 19 years,

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so he questioned the woman further.

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I said, "Well, could you tell me the circumstances of how you recovered it?"

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She said, "Oh, yes, my sister was shopping, found the piece,

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"and then she remembered it was mine and she bought it, and then I bought it from her."

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Having received £10,000 from her insurance company

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for the loss of the portrait 19 years earlier,

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the woman could potentially be facing a fraud charge.

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However, with no proof that it was anything more sinister than a coincidence,

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Chris had to believe her.

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Advised by the original insurer,

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Chris gave the woman two options to avoid criminal proceedings.

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Keep the painting, and reimburse your insurance company

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or release your claim to the piece altogether.

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Despite escaping a criminal prosecution,

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the seller had a wish of her own.

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Then she called me and said, "Do I have to give you the frame?"

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She goes, "I paid a lot of money for that frame." And I said,

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"You're just getting by without being charged with insurance fraud,

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"and you're asking me to keep the frame?!"

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She goes, "You're probably right. OK, you can have the frame."

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With the painting recovered, and held safely by the Art Loss Register,

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Chris entered it into an auction at Bonhams.

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The piece has lost value since the insurance company paid out,

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which happens, um, and it's possible that this piece could sell

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for anywhere between £5,000 and £8,000.

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As crazy as some of the scenarios that I have seen,

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it would not surprise me if she showed up and bid on this thing again.

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It's the police! Can you open up, please?

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Today, officers from the Met Police Traffic Unit

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are raiding an accident management company suspected of fraud.

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They've completed a search for evidence at a suspect's flat.

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DI Hindmarsh has driven to a second location to continue the operation.

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I'm outside the accident management company now.

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At the premises, DI Hindmarsh is joined by a small team of Met Police officers.

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They have a member of staff from the company with them.

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He is under arrest.

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-Are they scanned onto the computer?

-Scanned, yeah.

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Yes, so really then, most of what is in there is scanned on,

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-and it's on the computer, yeah?

-OK.

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The search begins.

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Nearly everything in the office is placed in evidence bags.

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Of great interest to the Traffic Unit

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is a large quantity of cash found in one of the filing cabinets.

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DI Hindmarsh leaves the officers to continue their search

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as he's needed back at the location of the raided flat.

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We're just on our way back to, um, the address of the gentleman who wasn't in

0:26:000:26:06

because we've got two vehicles that we believe have been used

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in this particular crime and, er, as such, we're going to seize them.

0:26:110:26:16

The company secretary was later sentenced to 12 months

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in prison after pleading guilty to conspiracy to defraud.

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And one of the arrested men who allowed his vehicle to be used

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and submitted a fake claim was sentenced to four months in prison.

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We're really pleased with the result.

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This has been about eight or nine months of work to get to the arrest phase

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so to get the result that we have, yes, we're really, really pleased.

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But the work continues.

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