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They turned out and hit me on the side, the front driver's side. Can | 0:00:05 | 0:00:12 | |
you confirm the area of damage on your vehicle? I don't know if it is | 0:00:13 | 0:00:18 | |
front, back whatever. They thought they could beat the system. They | 0:00:19 | 0:00:27 | |
call and insurance companies out of thousands by faking crashes. Meet | 0:00:28 | 0:00:35 | |
the Yandells, they ever owned a small garage. All these collisions, | 0:00:36 | 0:00:39 | |
they are all connected. They are not random, they are all connected. They | 0:00:40 | 0:00:46 | |
got away with it from years before they got caught by their own CCTV. | 0:00:47 | 0:00:51 | |
For three years, we have been with the police have a close in on the | 0:00:52 | 0:00:59 | |
gap. This is the inside story. This lady here is under arrest. | 0:01:00 | 0:01:11 | |
Please can I help. I have just been attacked by a guy of Blackwood Road. | 0:01:12 | 0:01:23 | |
He has taken my car. A call recording a theft of a Renault | 0:01:24 | 0:01:34 | |
Megane is about to kick off an investigation into one of the | 0:01:35 | 0:01:41 | |
biggest cons Wales has ever seen. The car was in the garage. They | 0:01:42 | 0:01:47 | |
already suspected that the Garrard, then called easy fix, was a centre | 0:01:48 | 0:01:53 | |
of a trade in stolen vehicles. Officers responded to the | 0:01:54 | 0:02:00 | |
information. Doors are closed for the evening solely at the G. Holder | 0:02:01 | 0:02:06 | |
to turn up, -- key-holder to turn up, a man called Yandell. They found | 0:02:07 | 0:02:11 | |
a Renault Megane completely stripped. Mr Randall was duly | 0:02:12 | 0:02:26 | |
arrested. Andy Cullen and his team moved fast. They identified 20 | 0:02:27 | 0:02:31 | |
stolen vehicles. All that remained of some of them were the tax discs. | 0:02:32 | 0:02:35 | |
The police were about to make an even more important discovery. One | 0:02:36 | 0:02:40 | |
of these search officers was pulling his way through paperwork. Can you | 0:02:41 | 0:02:46 | |
have a look at this site, please? On this piece of paper, with the | 0:02:47 | 0:02:52 | |
effect, "What we say to the insurance company." At that time, we | 0:02:53 | 0:03:02 | |
had a lot of crash for cash claims. I thought, hang on, we have a a lot | 0:03:03 | 0:03:09 | |
of cars here in some state, I want every piece of paper. Something else | 0:03:10 | 0:03:14 | |
got there I ended was to prove the gang's undoing. A hard drive with 21 | 0:03:15 | 0:03:22 | |
days of footage from the Garrard's for security cameras. The gang had | 0:03:23 | 0:03:30 | |
been caught before they had time to buy it. They put it up for security | 0:03:31 | 0:03:37 | |
purposes but they were worried about damage to their property and other | 0:03:38 | 0:03:39 | |
criminals possibly breaking into their yard. Clever if you stay under | 0:03:40 | 0:03:46 | |
the radar but extremely stupid if you film the criminality you are | 0:03:47 | 0:03:54 | |
involved in. Four years later, police would be to families who were | 0:03:55 | 0:04:02 | |
involved in Wales's biggest insurance fraud. Man-mac, owner of | 0:04:03 | 0:04:13 | |
the garage. His father, Peter. -- Byron Yandell. Michelle Yandell, his | 0:04:14 | 0:04:27 | |
mother, Rachael, his wife and Gavin... Hello. Ireland's brother. | 0:04:28 | 0:04:34 | |
And there was another family, the Callaghan 's. Brothers Patrick and | 0:04:35 | 0:04:38 | |
Anthony and his partner, Jennifer Cosh. What started with a phone call | 0:04:39 | 0:04:49 | |
about a stolen card and into an conjugated investigation involving | 0:04:50 | 0:04:52 | |
almost 90 suspects. It you can almost two and a half years to get | 0:04:53 | 0:04:58 | |
it all through the goals. Leeds United is more than car theft. It | 0:04:59 | 0:05:02 | |
was a cash for trash can. Police realised. How big, they didn't know. | 0:05:03 | 0:05:15 | |
Operation Dynamo is in action. -- Operation Dino. Here is Sara Morris | 0:05:16 | 0:05:26 | |
working particularly with social media like Facebook. This man has | 0:05:27 | 0:05:33 | |
the onerous task of dealing with CCTV. Finally, DC Jon Parkinson | 0:05:34 | 0:05:36 | |
speaking to witnesses and gathering evidence from insurance companies | 0:05:37 | 0:05:39 | |
and identifying the people we need is the issue. There was a suggestion | 0:05:40 | 0:05:48 | |
that they wanted to steal their CCTV back. Consequently, we have | 0:05:49 | 0:05:50 | |
everything stolen in our jurisdiction. These boxes contain | 0:05:51 | 0:06:06 | |
material, exhibits that have been brought to our attention. We have in | 0:06:07 | 0:06:10 | |
excess of 500 witness statements of over 2500 incidents. Totalling | 0:06:11 | 0:06:19 | |
hundreds of thousands of pages. The investigation centred on a | 0:06:20 | 0:06:24 | |
number of things. This is just my memoir, there are about 20 names on | 0:06:25 | 0:06:29 | |
your. That is a whole vehicle and then you can add to this one that is | 0:06:30 | 0:06:34 | |
just a tax disc. Lots of money's word here. Lots of people's Rice | 0:06:35 | 0:06:41 | |
affected as a result. Close buddy of the CCTV revealed all | 0:06:42 | 0:06:45 | |
kinds of criminal activity. It looked like vehicles were being | 0:06:46 | 0:06:48 | |
stolen for their parts to repair other cars that are deliberately | 0:06:49 | 0:06:54 | |
damage or insurance pay-outs. -- close studies. This happened | 0:06:55 | 0:07:02 | |
10:26am. We see him dismantle the van, removing the bonnet, removing | 0:07:03 | 0:07:08 | |
the bumper venue from rail, the side doors, the real doors and then the | 0:07:09 | 0:07:13 | |
engine. This is dismantling of parts they can be use. We have Jonathan | 0:07:14 | 0:07:21 | |
Fuller in the white, I remind LME -- Byron Yandell any stripy top. Gavin | 0:07:22 | 0:07:29 | |
and Jonathan are stripping the car down with the owner of the garage | 0:07:30 | 0:07:31 | |
obviously in the whole project really. By 1244 PM they have removed | 0:07:32 | 0:07:42 | |
evil engine. You can see they have completely removed from the | 0:07:43 | 0:07:52 | |
fittings. By 14:20pm, wheels are off and they are on their way to | 0:07:53 | 0:07:55 | |
whatever scrap or they will dispose of. When you stand the stolen, the | 0:07:56 | 0:08:01 | |
owner was deprived of his livelihood. Not just the vehicle by | 0:08:02 | 0:08:06 | |
thousands of pounds of tools within. They always say a picture paints a | 0:08:07 | 0:08:09 | |
thousand words so it has been invaluable throughout. DC Sara | 0:08:10 | 0:08:17 | |
Morris look for clues through social media. Police suspected there were | 0:08:18 | 0:08:20 | |
links between the people who claim their cars had been crashed but she | 0:08:21 | 0:08:26 | |
had to prove it. In all of these collisions, they are all connected. | 0:08:27 | 0:08:30 | |
They are not just members of the public, they are all connected, you | 0:08:31 | 0:08:33 | |
look to the garage or through the Yandell family or to the Callaghan | 0:08:34 | 0:08:41 | |
family. They denied all knowledge of others involved in the collisions | 0:08:42 | 0:08:45 | |
but they had pictures on Facebook for all the world to see, showing | 0:08:46 | 0:08:48 | |
exactly how well they all knew each other. This person here is clear | 0:08:49 | 0:08:55 | |
Davis. This is our partner who is now deceased. This person here is | 0:08:56 | 0:09:02 | |
Patrick Callaghan. It shows that he clearly attend this event. This is | 0:09:03 | 0:09:08 | |
captured from the same event. Here, honestly and again, you've got | 0:09:09 | 0:09:11 | |
Claire and Ian and this lady here is Jennifer Cosh. What we are saying | 0:09:12 | 0:09:18 | |
when they say about the associations is that Lorraine Fitzpatrick had a | 0:09:19 | 0:09:24 | |
collision with Patrick Callaghan, and shows that he clearly attend | 0:09:25 | 0:09:27 | |
this event. They are friends and associates. So, what are the | 0:09:28 | 0:09:34 | |
janitors in the crashing into a friend or relative? Quite high if | 0:09:35 | 0:09:42 | |
you are a Yandell or a Callaghan. DC Parkinson has spent hundreds of | 0:09:43 | 0:09:48 | |
hours interviewing witnesses. The investigation is uncovering an | 0:09:49 | 0:09:53 | |
extraordinary number of suspects. The police concentrated on 90 | 0:09:54 | 0:09:55 | |
appeared to have made a false insurance claim is through Easifix. | 0:09:56 | 0:10:02 | |
We are having to. The eyes and crossed the keys. We are pushing it | 0:10:03 | 0:10:09 | |
towards the Crown Prosecution Service to think the people before | 0:10:10 | 0:10:10 | |
the court. So-called crash for cash is an | 0:10:11 | 0:10:24 | |
insurance fraud and it is a big problem for them. It cost the | 0:10:25 | 0:10:30 | |
industry ?340 million last year. The insurance industry is always been a | 0:10:31 | 0:10:36 | |
target for criminals in respect of what is commonly known as crash for | 0:10:37 | 0:10:42 | |
cash. Vehicles have been driven into each other so there is damage on | 0:10:43 | 0:10:48 | |
both vehicles. They haven't been driven into each other at the time, | 0:10:49 | 0:10:54 | |
date and place aged and the people within them were not within them. A | 0:10:55 | 0:10:59 | |
variety of different people say that they were in the vehicle, injured | 0:11:00 | 0:11:04 | |
during that collision and make a substantial amount of money on the | 0:11:05 | 0:11:10 | |
back end of doing so. A false whiplash claim and bridging several | 0:11:11 | 0:11:15 | |
thousand pounds in your pocket for something that did not happen. Crash | 0:11:16 | 0:11:19 | |
investigator PC Chris Barnard was brought into the Operation Dino team | 0:11:20 | 0:11:28 | |
to investigate the collisions. I crashing cars, he said he can work | 0:11:29 | 0:11:34 | |
out how damage is likely to occur. Those unique marks are left on new | 0:11:35 | 0:11:38 | |
vehicle so, what was happening at a particular time is written into the | 0:11:39 | 0:11:43 | |
structure of the damage. It is just a question of reading that damage | 0:11:44 | 0:11:47 | |
and playing the events backwards to see if they may fit with the | 0:11:48 | 0:11:55 | |
scenario that was claimed. You can see that there is danger, | 0:11:56 | 0:12:01 | |
Green paint here, running through the whole scene -- blue paint and | 0:12:02 | 0:12:09 | |
green paint. We have these horizontal marks that match the same | 0:12:10 | 0:12:12 | |
height as that, that all makes sense. He was soon to prove that | 0:12:13 | 0:12:18 | |
hardly any of the Easifix collisions make any sense at all. If any of the | 0:12:19 | 0:12:29 | |
scammers thought that insurance fraud was a victimless crime, they | 0:12:30 | 0:12:37 | |
were wrong. That's my little Blue Cross. She mounted the bonnet and | 0:12:38 | 0:12:51 | |
boost the bonnet up. Corsa --. There is a scratch they are and they | 0:12:52 | 0:12:56 | |
scratch there. The 70 fraudulent collisions police investigated, one | 0:12:57 | 0:13:03 | |
stood out. What happened in this car park in Caerphilly four years ago, | 0:13:04 | 0:13:12 | |
would like a real accident. It started in front of me and I stopped | 0:13:13 | 0:13:15 | |
behind. Only say, there was someone crossing. I could see this bar would | 0:13:16 | 0:13:24 | |
in the car. Next thing I knew, she was actually on my bonnet, she had | 0:13:25 | 0:13:30 | |
reversed back. It frightened the life out of me because I just did | 0:13:31 | 0:13:35 | |
not expect that at all. When she got out of the car, she was most | 0:13:36 | 0:13:37 | |
apologetic. No sound. The elves got up from the | 0:13:38 | 0:14:04 | |
car. I didn't think to go and check. But she had my address, I had her | 0:14:05 | 0:14:09 | |
address and insurance details. I stood there and I shook. She drove | 0:14:10 | 0:14:15 | |
off and then I saw her walking in to Morrisons. I drove and found the | 0:14:16 | 0:14:20 | |
nearest spot and just sat there and cried. | 0:14:21 | 0:14:26 | |
I advised her to call the police, because, just in case thing happened | 0:14:27 | 0:14:37 | |
afterwards. Best let the police know so that the police had been | 0:14:38 | 0:14:41 | |
informed. That call proved to be crucial. What | 0:14:42 | 0:14:47 | |
Jane did not know yet, at home that night, was that she had got herself | 0:14:48 | 0:14:52 | |
mixed up with the Easifix gang. And her problems were only just | 0:14:53 | 0:14:53 | |
beginning. Hundreds of hours of CCTV video | 0:14:54 | 0:15:03 | |
revealed to the police the disturbing picture of how the gang | 0:15:04 | 0:15:08 | |
was operating. Byron Yandell's Father Peter was | 0:15:09 | 0:15:12 | |
co-owner of Easifix, and registered disable. He was claiming disability | 0:15:13 | 0:15:18 | |
benefits and had a smart BMW, subsidised by the taxpayer under the | 0:15:19 | 0:15:24 | |
Motability scheme. But DC Adams could see from the CCTV | 0:15:25 | 0:15:30 | |
that Peter's disability didn't prevent him from lifting stolen car | 0:15:31 | 0:15:34 | |
parts. We have Peter here carrying what | 0:15:35 | 0:15:39 | |
looks like a prop shaft or some sort of iron object. He appears to be | 0:15:40 | 0:15:42 | |
carrying that with no difficulty whatsoever, bearing in mind his bad | 0:15:43 | 0:15:45 | |
back. It looks quite easy. It is part of an axle. He is able to lift | 0:15:46 | 0:15:53 | |
it off on the back of a temper. He had also been seriously abusing | 0:15:54 | 0:15:56 | |
the Motability scheme. Peter Yandell was registered | 0:15:57 | 0:16:01 | |
disabled. He was in possession of the Motability vehicle, a moped Joel | 0:16:02 | 0:16:13 | |
BMW. -- a BMW. That BMW was rented out to Patrick Callaghan, breaching | 0:16:14 | 0:16:15 | |
the rules and regulations of the Motability scheme. | 0:16:16 | 0:16:19 | |
It got worse. Peter Yandell decided to write off this vehicle in stage | 0:16:20 | 0:16:24 | |
collision involving a family friend Simon Jones. Jones' van was faulty | 0:16:25 | 0:16:28 | |
and needed expensive repairs. While the Yandells wanted to make money | 0:16:29 | 0:16:34 | |
from fake personal injuries. The van was pulling out from a side | 0:16:35 | 0:16:40 | |
road into the path of the BMW. The BMW claimed it struck the ban as the | 0:16:41 | 0:16:44 | |
van was pulling out and turning right. | 0:16:45 | 0:16:49 | |
A number of injuries were claimed. Police think Jones was told to be | 0:16:50 | 0:16:53 | |
the at fault driver. I turned out and he hit me in the | 0:16:54 | 0:16:57 | |
front driver 's side. What damage has done to your | 0:16:58 | 0:17:00 | |
vehicle? The frontside is crushed. | 0:17:01 | 0:17:05 | |
Was anyone injured in your vehicle? I cut my eye. | 0:17:06 | 0:17:17 | |
When PC Goddard examined photos from the insurance companies, he could | 0:17:18 | 0:17:20 | |
see straightaway the damage did not match the claimant's description. | 0:17:21 | 0:17:29 | |
You would expect the frontside of the BMW to make the first point of | 0:17:30 | 0:17:32 | |
contact, that was not the case in reality. What actually happened was | 0:17:33 | 0:17:37 | |
that the entire broadside of the van received damage. Much wider than the | 0:17:38 | 0:17:44 | |
five series BMW could actually inflict. There was no evidence at | 0:17:45 | 0:17:52 | |
all that the ban was moving when it received its impact. | 0:17:53 | 0:17:58 | |
It had to be towed away. OK. Do you know we're vehicle is at the | 0:17:59 | 0:18:03 | |
minutes? Yeah, bumpy max. | 0:18:04 | 0:18:07 | |
Simon Jones got ?2200 for his written off van. And popo got ?1100 | 0:18:08 | 0:18:15 | |
for storage of the van. And to people going to be entered, they | 0:18:16 | 0:18:23 | |
were all lying. -- Easifix got 2200. Jones called the hospital about is | 0:18:24 | 0:18:27 | |
injuries before the accident, something the insurance company | 0:18:28 | 0:18:30 | |
could not have known before it paid out. | 0:18:31 | 0:18:33 | |
On the face of it, a fairly new BMW but you're driving around in, why | 0:18:34 | 0:18:38 | |
would you try and write it off? The reason being, if you have a | 0:18:39 | 0:18:41 | |
Motability vehicle, and you are not the artform driver, but ability will | 0:18:42 | 0:18:46 | |
just give you a new one. It is means for them to make money in that scam | 0:18:47 | 0:18:52 | |
-- at fault driver. Byron and mutual Randall get some | 0:18:53 | 0:18:59 | |
part of the referral commission for the recovery of those vehicles. | 0:19:00 | 0:19:04 | |
Peter Yandell's Motability car was written off and went to the scrap | 0:19:05 | 0:19:08 | |
dealer. As we will find out later, that was not the end of the story as | 0:19:09 | 0:19:10 | |
far as this car was concerned. As Operation Dino progressed, and | 0:19:11 | 0:19:25 | |
evidence of 70 claims over two years were fraudulent. They all seem to | 0:19:26 | 0:19:33 | |
lead back to Easifix, and at its centre, was Byron and his family. | 0:19:34 | 0:19:40 | |
They had left behind a digital trail and DC Morris was onto it. She could | 0:19:41 | 0:19:45 | |
see what they had been up to. This is a game from the wedding, | 0:19:46 | 0:19:50 | |
captured from Facebook. What I have detailed around it is all the names, | 0:19:51 | 0:19:54 | |
who they are, and how many claims they had been involved in. Rachel | 0:19:55 | 0:19:59 | |
Yandell has been involved in three claims. The husband, Byron Yandell, | 0:20:00 | 0:20:04 | |
four claims. And as you go on, you can see, how many planes just this | 0:20:05 | 0:20:11 | |
small family unit has made. -- harmony claims. But the family | 0:20:12 | 0:20:16 | |
had orchestrated dozens more claims by farming at collisions to the | 0:20:17 | 0:20:19 | |
Callaghans and at least 19 friends and relatives. | 0:20:20 | 0:20:25 | |
If you look through the collisions, there is a clear divide, | 0:20:26 | 0:20:27 | |
geographically with the people involved. Easifix is in Blackwood, | 0:20:28 | 0:20:34 | |
the Yandells M Blackwood. You can see a large proportion of those | 0:20:35 | 0:20:38 | |
involved in the Blackwood area. Your sad people from Caerphilly and | 0:20:39 | 0:20:43 | |
Cardiff who get involved which is where the Callaghans the men. If you | 0:20:44 | 0:20:49 | |
went in the associates, make it bigger, it is less suspect, really. | 0:20:50 | 0:20:52 | |
If you have people from Caerphilly crashing into people from Blackwood | 0:20:53 | 0:20:56 | |
Rather than two neighbours crashing into each other. It just adds that | 0:20:57 | 0:21:02 | |
bit of distance between the two. And then you have the friends and | 0:21:03 | 0:21:05 | |
more distance family on the outskirts. Thinking, I can jump in | 0:21:06 | 0:21:12 | |
here, and get 15,000- ?2000 for a quick whiplash. Nolan will know, | 0:21:13 | 0:21:18 | |
it's OK to do it. -- no one will note. | 0:21:19 | 0:21:23 | |
Two years into their enquiry, and police acting on a tip-off that | 0:21:24 | 0:21:28 | |
there is more evidence heading at popo. It has a new name and a new | 0:21:29 | 0:21:33 | |
owner. He's running a legitimate business, but for safer hemp, the | 0:21:34 | 0:21:37 | |
inspector still has to call. Evidence heading at bumpy max. | 0:21:38 | 0:21:45 | |
We are looking for any vehicle identification plates. | 0:21:46 | 0:21:48 | |
The Operation Dino team think that items dumped on wasteland or in | 0:21:49 | 0:21:52 | |
cavity walls might give them new leads. | 0:21:53 | 0:21:58 | |
The search of cavity walls drew a blank, but there were some finds in | 0:21:59 | 0:22:06 | |
the undergrowth will stop. If we find out whose license this | 0:22:07 | 0:22:13 | |
was, and we can find out why it was discarded in wasteland next to a | 0:22:14 | 0:22:16 | |
garage involved in criminality. There are numberplates there, and | 0:22:17 | 0:22:21 | |
this is a line of enquiry for us to follow. | 0:22:22 | 0:22:27 | |
Do we believe that other stolen vehicles or answer out there, and | 0:22:28 | 0:22:31 | |
that means there is a victim of crime out there whose crime has not | 0:22:32 | 0:22:35 | |
been detected. And they do not have the opportunity to possibly get | 0:22:36 | 0:22:39 | |
compensated for their loss. So it is important. | 0:22:40 | 0:22:45 | |
The police were puzzling over the vehicles and collisions. They | 0:22:46 | 0:22:49 | |
suspected they had not been involved in real accidents, but they looked | 0:22:50 | 0:22:56 | |
as if they had. How? Where? And when was this happening? | 0:22:57 | 0:23:02 | |
Two vital bits of footage revealed the answers. It was claimed that a | 0:23:03 | 0:23:06 | |
collision took place two miles away from Easifix between two Audis. | 0:23:07 | 0:23:13 | |
Driven by Ross Mazurczak and Lee Evans. Lyn Evans, Lee's mother was a | 0:23:14 | 0:23:18 | |
passenger and claims for personal injury. | 0:23:19 | 0:23:24 | |
This was the Audi, Ross' Audi, driven by Ross. They are supposedly | 0:23:25 | 0:23:31 | |
going to be involved in a collision between that Audi and Lee Evans' red | 0:23:32 | 0:23:36 | |
Audi at 3pm on the Llanbradach bypass. | 0:23:37 | 0:23:41 | |
This is Lee now driving his red Audi, which was in the right yard. | 0:23:42 | 0:23:52 | |
He should be on Llanbradach bypass being involved in an accident at | 0:23:53 | 0:23:57 | |
this stage. Now at 12 minutes pass, Lee Evans is there, he is not | 0:23:58 | 0:24:01 | |
injured, his vehicle is not injured the win damaged either. | 0:24:02 | 0:24:08 | |
This is the 24th, a Sunday morning. Ross in his Audi with no damage to | 0:24:09 | 0:24:12 | |
the front and whatsoever. But it was written off in a collision on the | 0:24:13 | 0:24:18 | |
22nd. Here is Ross. And that is Lee Evans. They claim the do not know | 0:24:19 | 0:24:25 | |
one another. Just to claim the details we have | 0:24:26 | 0:24:28 | |
the other driver for the third-party? | 0:24:29 | 0:24:31 | |
Lee Evans. Was there any passengers in the third-party vehicle? | 0:24:32 | 0:24:37 | |
I think there was a woman, someone in the passenger seat I think. I | 0:24:38 | 0:24:41 | |
don't know whether it is as partner or mother. | 0:24:42 | 0:24:50 | |
Again, Lee Evans and Lyn Evans, both allegedly suffering whiplash at this | 0:24:51 | 0:24:54 | |
moment in time. A couple of the days after the alleged collision. But | 0:24:55 | 0:24:57 | |
received personal injury pay-outs Jude to the pain and suffering from | 0:24:58 | 0:25:03 | |
this particular suffering the collision, which is not evident. | 0:25:04 | 0:25:12 | |
-- Q2. Between the CCTV cameras they have the top, there was a blind | 0:25:13 | 0:25:16 | |
spot. Police worked out, this is where the cars were damaged. | 0:25:17 | 0:25:22 | |
There it goes. It is going backwards. But to get the damage on | 0:25:23 | 0:25:26 | |
the back end of this Audi, and the front end of the other one, they | 0:25:27 | 0:25:32 | |
reversed this one. You can see, it reverses at speed. | 0:25:33 | 0:25:36 | |
Out of sight, the two Audis have collided. The next time one is seen, | 0:25:37 | 0:25:40 | |
the back is damaged. This is the damage now that is | 0:25:41 | 0:25:47 | |
reported to the insurance company. They maintain it with Rather and 3pm | 0:25:48 | 0:25:53 | |
on Friday afternoon, but the damage is done on a Sunday afternoon in a | 0:25:54 | 0:25:59 | |
quiet industrial state in Blackwood. Every possible angle to make money, | 0:26:00 | 0:26:07 | |
they have used. From thousands of pounds on higher, to PI referrals, | 0:26:08 | 0:26:12 | |
storage, recovery, personal injury claims themselves. It is just one | 0:26:13 | 0:26:21 | |
big conveyor belt of money. They are running a business, purely and | 0:26:22 | 0:26:26 | |
simply, on the proviso that their friends and family are involved in | 0:26:27 | 0:26:27 | |
car accidents. And one of those moneymaking schemes | 0:26:28 | 0:26:36 | |
was charging for replacement hire cars that went needed, or sometimes | 0:26:37 | 0:26:43 | |
didn't even exist. Remember how Peter Yandell was | 0:26:44 | 0:26:45 | |
hiring at his Motability car against the rules? There was also this | 0:26:46 | 0:26:51 | |
Astra. We have a higher vehicle which is on | 0:26:52 | 0:26:54 | |
paper are being rented out to a person involved in a collision, but | 0:26:55 | 0:26:59 | |
it never leaves the compound. There is even? Whether it can drive on the | 0:27:00 | 0:27:04 | |
road, because they have to push it back and forward on a trolley jack. | 0:27:05 | 0:27:07 | |
Syriza question of its mechanical fitness for the road. | 0:27:08 | 0:27:12 | |
And they claim for hiring to two people at the same time. Lee Evans, | 0:27:13 | 0:27:16 | |
falling his fake crash in the Audi, and Rachel Yandell call the win, | 0:27:17 | 0:27:23 | |
following one of horrors. This case cost to insurance companies several | 0:27:24 | 0:27:29 | |
thousands of pounds between them. Many of the crashes were supposed to | 0:27:30 | 0:27:33 | |
have happened here, in Blackwood, just around the corner from Easifix. | 0:27:34 | 0:27:38 | |
Interestingly, for eight company which and own any recovery truck of | 0:27:39 | 0:27:43 | |
their own, it is quite fortunate that the collisions happen at this | 0:27:44 | 0:27:48 | |
junction we are about to come up to now. This particular junction, | 0:27:49 | 0:27:52 | |
members of the Yandell family had collisions at. It is a very busy | 0:27:53 | 0:27:58 | |
road this. It allegedly had collisions at times of day where | 0:27:59 | 0:28:03 | |
traffic congestion would have been very, very busy, had there been an | 0:28:04 | 0:28:08 | |
accident there. But we have had no reports of that. | 0:28:09 | 0:28:16 | |
In fact, police suspect that none of the crashes happened back there at | 0:28:17 | 0:28:20 | |
all. And it was the next bit of CCTV footage that was the clincher, | 0:28:21 | 0:28:24 | |
giving the police the clearest evidence yet that the gang was | 0:28:25 | 0:28:30 | |
smashing cars themselves. It is 18:35, and the Land Rover that | 0:28:31 | 0:28:34 | |
allegedly had a collision at 10-2-macro: 30. According to the | 0:28:35 | 0:28:41 | |
insurance games, Land Rover driven by Roger Phillips collided with a | 0:28:42 | 0:28:44 | |
silver BMW driven by his nephew, Gavin Yandell. | 0:28:45 | 0:28:49 | |
Two other people claimed for injury. Collisions expert Chris Goddard was | 0:28:50 | 0:29:05 | |
deliberately not shown any Easifix CCTV so as not to influence his | 0:29:06 | 0:29:12 | |
assessment. It was clear that the BMW was stationary because of the | 0:29:13 | 0:29:16 | |
Mark Sunny side of the door. We don't know what struck the Land | 0:29:17 | 0:29:24 | |
Rover. That is an Byron Yandell driving the vehicle which is | 0:29:25 | 0:29:28 | |
completely intact, no damage caused at all but allegedly written off at | 0:29:29 | 0:29:31 | |
all but allegedly written offer 10:30am. Again, 17 to 146, we have a | 0:29:32 | 0:29:37 | |
whole host of people around this vehicle. Anthony Callaghan is | 0:29:38 | 0:29:44 | |
driving it now, Patrick Callaghan, his brother, is looking on. Adam | 0:29:45 | 0:29:52 | |
Fairclough and Byron Yandell, everybody is around the vehicle and | 0:29:53 | 0:29:54 | |
it is fair to say that everybody knows what it is about to happen. | 0:29:55 | 0:29:57 | |
And not the first they have done this. We still don't know why this | 0:29:58 | 0:30:05 | |
particular half decent looking vehicle was damaged, didn't have a | 0:30:06 | 0:30:08 | |
mechanical fault? It is now being placed in the blind spot by Byron. | 0:30:09 | 0:30:16 | |
Now, it is 6:45pm and it is coming into shot. It is now outside | 0:30:17 | 0:30:23 | |
Easifix, Byron is driving it and Patrick Callaghan is at the bottom, | 0:30:24 | 0:30:27 | |
Anthony is there. You look at Gavin's reaction, he is really | 0:30:28 | 0:30:32 | |
wincing, he has just seen something and what he has seen is that Land | 0:30:33 | 0:30:38 | |
Rover being driven into the BMW. They are not happy with the level of | 0:30:39 | 0:30:42 | |
damage they have just inflicted there, look at Gavin two into shot | 0:30:43 | 0:30:50 | |
and only goal again. That is the Land Rover being driven in for a | 0:30:51 | 0:30:56 | |
second time into a BMW. Now it looks completely undamaged being driven | 0:30:57 | 0:31:01 | |
back into the back of the yard. It has caused damage to the BMW, we | 0:31:02 | 0:31:08 | |
never see a BMW only CCTV again. The next time any of us see any footage | 0:31:09 | 0:31:14 | |
of that, it is actually inside the yard when we do a search. | 0:31:15 | 0:31:25 | |
Two days later and because the Land Rover has stood up so well to | 0:31:26 | 0:31:32 | |
punishment, the Easifix gang decide to have another go. With a forklift | 0:31:33 | 0:31:40 | |
truck. The Land Rover which is outside being driven by Ashley | 0:31:41 | 0:31:43 | |
Norris into the rear of that damage is further. Driven the Land Rover | 0:31:44 | 0:31:59 | |
into the back of the forklift. Again, like with the BMW, they are | 0:32:00 | 0:32:03 | |
not happy with doing it once so they have another goal. A bit further | 0:32:04 | 0:32:11 | |
back this time. As you can see, the hazard lights have, on and more | 0:32:12 | 0:32:18 | |
damage now to the front of that. The Lee Evans is back there and you can | 0:32:19 | 0:32:24 | |
see one of the light has come off. To add yet more damage, Byron | 0:32:25 | 0:32:30 | |
Yandell attacked it with a hammer. Which is amusing everybody involved | 0:32:31 | 0:32:37 | |
and Byron himself. Then they set off the airbags. This alone is enough to | 0:32:38 | 0:32:45 | |
write off the vehicle. You can see the white just coming out of the | 0:32:46 | 0:32:49 | |
steering wheel there. If the airbags have gone off, certainly on a | 0:32:50 | 0:32:53 | |
vehicle like this, you can wrap up how fast you are going, therefore | 0:32:54 | 0:32:57 | |
how injured you are going to be if the airbags have gone off, which | 0:32:58 | 0:33:02 | |
then could have some sway in what kind of personal injury you get. The | 0:33:03 | 0:33:09 | |
gang were caught red handed and they had filmed themselves doing it. It | 0:33:10 | 0:33:12 | |
was just the evidence police needed. And there was more. While this | 0:33:13 | 0:33:20 | |
vehicle damage was invented, sold to the personal injuries. Time for a | 0:33:21 | 0:33:25 | |
fictitious passenger to get on the phone to the insurance company. | 0:33:26 | 0:33:41 | |
The colour is Florence Phillips, Gavin and Byron's grandmother. She | 0:33:42 | 0:33:46 | |
is pretending to be a passenger in the Land Rover. | 0:33:47 | 0:34:01 | |
She is clearly be encouraged, you can hear her son, Roger, in the | 0:34:02 | 0:34:04 | |
background telling her what to say. If you listen to the recording of | 0:34:05 | 0:35:00 | |
Florence, it's got a free two laps in the office initially to listen to | 0:35:01 | 0:35:09 | |
it. -- HQ alas. She didn't even know where the damage had been caused. | 0:35:10 | 0:35:24 | |
When you look back on it now in reflection, and we all set as a | 0:35:25 | 0:35:32 | |
team, why did they get to involve? She is their grandmother? It | 0:35:33 | 0:35:36 | |
subsequently turned out she has medical issues and they should have | 0:35:37 | 0:35:40 | |
never gotten involved in the first place. She is an elderly lady, 70 | 0:35:41 | 0:35:47 | |
years old, ill health, but they used to and that was Byron's own | 0:35:48 | 0:35:49 | |
grandmother that they dragged into this. Hello, you are free to carry | 0:35:50 | 0:35:56 | |
at the claims department. Admiral insurance paid Florence for her | 0:35:57 | 0:36:04 | |
injury, adding ?11,000 more than the gang had written off. The insurance | 0:36:05 | 0:36:07 | |
company paid out more than 12 hours and bounds. It did not happen anyway | 0:36:08 | 0:36:13 | |
Google told it happened. Sue Evans is Admiral's head of fraud. You are | 0:36:14 | 0:36:21 | |
responsible for the accident having pulled out into the path of that | 0:36:22 | 0:36:25 | |
vehicle. The job claims handle suspect anything at that stage? At | 0:36:26 | 0:36:28 | |
that stage, no. Absolutely nothing. Those who are processes and, | 0:36:29 | 0:36:35 | |
although we have quite a robust system sitting behind the phone | 0:36:36 | 0:36:38 | |
calls and a predictive system trying to identify the fraudulent claims, | 0:36:39 | 0:36:44 | |
on this occasion, it did not like that there was an issue with this | 0:36:45 | 0:36:50 | |
particular incident. They were just getting away with people not | 0:36:51 | 0:36:55 | |
bothering to look into much detail. Police say that if both insurance | 0:36:56 | 0:37:00 | |
companies involved have asked the claimant 's tough questions, | 0:37:01 | 0:37:02 | |
fraudulent claims might have been avoided. There was nothing on those | 0:37:03 | 0:37:09 | |
vehicles that confirms the story at all. The insurance companies were | 0:37:10 | 0:37:14 | |
not verifying the accounts given with the physical evidence on the | 0:37:15 | 0:37:24 | |
vehicles. Police say that insurance operators should ask further | 0:37:25 | 0:37:31 | |
questions. We are trying to read out these fraudsters. We don't want to | 0:37:32 | 0:37:37 | |
hinder the payment of genuine claims. We need to get them over and | 0:37:38 | 0:37:41 | |
done with as quickly as possible and get them back on the road. If | 0:37:42 | 0:37:47 | |
insurance companies did more to prevent fraud, perhaps there would | 0:37:48 | 0:37:51 | |
be fewer victims like Jane Lawrence. Following the accident in a | 0:37:52 | 0:37:54 | |
supermarket car park where a range Rover reversed into her Corsa, she | 0:37:55 | 0:38:04 | |
thought the insurance Company would sort it out. She thought it would be | 0:38:05 | 0:38:07 | |
all plain sailing because she was not the driver at fault, also she | 0:38:08 | 0:38:15 | |
thought. I received a summons from a less saying I was being accused of | 0:38:16 | 0:38:23 | |
I'm due care and attention saying I was driving recklessly around a car | 0:38:24 | 0:38:27 | |
park. If you have been to Morrisons car park, you know you cannot do | 0:38:28 | 0:38:31 | |
that. Especially at the tiny incident happened, about 11:53am. | 0:38:32 | 0:38:38 | |
They were making claims for injuries to her, her mother, and her | 0:38:39 | 0:38:43 | |
daughter. Stefanie Barwood, the other driver can be seen arriving at | 0:38:44 | 0:38:48 | |
easy fix a view second after the crash. Here we see her partner, not | 0:38:49 | 0:38:54 | |
other than Lee Evans. Please worked out who was who from the gang's own | 0:38:55 | 0:39:01 | |
CCTV. She is now explaining to the that she has been involved in a | 0:39:02 | 0:39:05 | |
collision. Four and a half hours have gone and she has still not | 0:39:06 | 0:39:09 | |
reported it to the insurance company yet. Stefanie's version of events is | 0:39:10 | 0:39:13 | |
that a passer-by left their number on her windscreen in a supermarket | 0:39:14 | 0:39:23 | |
car park. The independent witness to Stefanie Barwood claims not to have | 0:39:24 | 0:39:27 | |
seen, that person is William Veall, who is still at the garage now. He | 0:39:28 | 0:39:33 | |
starts as the goal there, speaks to all concerned, but clearly did not | 0:39:34 | 0:39:41 | |
leave any well. The story has been concocted at Easifix this afternoon. | 0:39:42 | 0:39:48 | |
William Veall had already been involved fraudulent collisions. One | 0:39:49 | 0:39:50 | |
of them when he was on home leave from prison. Now he is colluding | 0:39:51 | 0:39:55 | |
with his Easifix makes to the accident and that was Barwood's fall | 0:39:56 | 0:40:02 | |
into some thing that would put the blame on Mrs Lawrence. A woman had | 0:40:03 | 0:40:10 | |
drove into the back of me. Can I take your name? Stefanie Barwood. I | 0:40:11 | 0:40:18 | |
was in the car. Were there any independent witnesses? There was a | 0:40:19 | 0:40:28 | |
man who seem accident and let his name and number. Can I take his | 0:40:29 | 0:40:39 | |
name? William Veall. V-E-A-L-L. Three weeks down the line, this | 0:40:40 | 0:40:42 | |
so-called witness turned up out of the blue saying he had witnessed | 0:40:43 | 0:40:48 | |
everything that happened and, yes, I had drove around the car park so | 0:40:49 | 0:40:52 | |
that I had little in the back and shunted to follow. There was no way | 0:40:53 | 0:41:01 | |
a Corsa scan showed a Range Rover followed. I phoned and I spoke to | 0:41:02 | 0:41:05 | |
someone from the insurance, they did not care. They did not care about | 0:41:06 | 0:41:09 | |
the affected was having on me. Or other innocent people caught up in | 0:41:10 | 0:41:20 | |
this. The fraud worked, Barwood got almost ?4000 for personal injury, | 0:41:21 | 0:41:23 | |
added her mother Maureen. She got ?1000 damage to the baby too. | 0:41:24 | 0:41:32 | |
Neither has been in the car. It cost Jane's insurers ?16,000 because | 0:41:33 | 0:41:37 | |
Barwood also exaggerated the damage to her Range Rover. They are very | 0:41:38 | 0:41:41 | |
tough Eagles match to go anywhere and the idea that minor car parking | 0:41:42 | 0:41:48 | |
contacts would render the rear suspension to be in... Requiring | 0:41:49 | 0:41:54 | |
complete repair, that did not include. -- ring true. What helped | 0:41:55 | 0:42:06 | |
the story was that Jane Ron the police after the crash. Only one | 0:42:07 | 0:42:11 | |
other person had done so. These things happen these days so I | 0:42:12 | 0:42:15 | |
thought, just in case, I will fully police and given erected. -- phone | 0:42:16 | 0:42:23 | |
the police. Give them a record. The people that we pay to help us in | 0:42:24 | 0:42:30 | |
these situations, literally just turned out that by me. If the police | 0:42:31 | 0:42:36 | |
had not done their jobs, then we would be in a right state. The | 0:42:37 | 0:42:39 | |
insurance companies were just useless. If I could not bother with | 0:42:40 | 0:42:47 | |
insurance, I wouldn't. I do not trust any of them any more. Any of | 0:42:48 | 0:42:59 | |
them. Direct Line say they repaired the vehicle and got it back on the | 0:43:00 | 0:43:03 | |
road quickly. Fraudsters can also cause claims made by innocent | 0:43:04 | 0:43:07 | |
customers to be delayed. They say they will be seeking to make a full | 0:43:08 | 0:43:11 | |
recovery of their costs, a third party involved. As for Barwood, | 0:43:12 | 0:43:18 | |
further investigation showed that she was involved in another false | 0:43:19 | 0:43:23 | |
claim months later. She was driving her Range Rover when it was | 0:43:24 | 0:43:32 | |
allegedly hit by this Peugeot, driven by this man, who worked as a | 0:43:33 | 0:43:38 | |
paint sprayer at Easifix. Stefanie's brother, also allegedly a passenger | 0:43:39 | 0:43:41 | |
claimed personal injury and both cars were written off. The insurance | 0:43:42 | 0:43:47 | |
company paid out ?15,000. It is just silly and simply down to greed. | 0:43:48 | 0:43:57 | |
After two years of intensive evidence gathering, police and out | 0:43:58 | 0:44:03 | |
moving on the wider network. You don't have to say anything, but | 0:44:04 | 0:44:08 | |
it may harm your evidence if you mention anything that you later rely | 0:44:09 | 0:44:11 | |
on in court. Anything you do say may be used in evidence. This is a | 0:44:12 | 0:44:16 | |
convex enquiry relying on suspects who will all be dealt with any, now. | 0:44:17 | 0:44:20 | |
And when to ask you to sign this document to say that is what I said. | 0:44:21 | 0:44:26 | |
-- a complex enquiry. This is just another of the false | 0:44:27 | 0:44:30 | |
claims had been put forward by the Crown Prosecution Service. The | 0:44:31 | 0:44:35 | |
people who have been arrested today, they had been interviewed and | 0:44:36 | 0:44:40 | |
question about a collision that occurred in 2011 in the Blackwood | 0:44:41 | 0:44:45 | |
area. Through the course of the interview, they will be asked to | 0:44:46 | 0:44:47 | |
account as to whether and not they got any injuries whether they put | 0:44:48 | 0:44:52 | |
their claimant, and to give an account if they wish to. | 0:44:53 | 0:45:01 | |
This lady here is under arrest. Rhian Davis was one of those to | 0:45:02 | 0:45:06 | |
plead guilty to conspiracy to the fraud as the months went by. Police | 0:45:07 | 0:45:10 | |
have now arrested 85 suspects and there are more to come. | 0:45:11 | 0:45:17 | |
As the prospect of a big trial drew nearer, police work fast to | 0:45:18 | 0:45:24 | |
establish accurate timelines for the gang's claim history and how they | 0:45:25 | 0:45:28 | |
were all connected. Each collision, there were vast | 0:45:29 | 0:45:35 | |
amounts of money to be made. By looking at the social media networks | 0:45:36 | 0:45:39 | |
and other aspects of their lives, it became clear that the collisions | 0:45:40 | 0:45:47 | |
were occurring more frequently when there was a major event coming up in | 0:45:48 | 0:45:53 | |
that person's lives, such as Rachel and Byron's wedding in April 2000 | 0:45:54 | 0:45:56 | |
ten. Everyone looked fit well and happy. | 0:45:57 | 0:46:02 | |
Surprising really, because only the day before, Peter and Michelle | 0:46:03 | 0:46:06 | |
Yandell's for transit was involved in a collision with a Vauxhall | 0:46:07 | 0:46:10 | |
Astra, supposedly in Blackwood. 9th of April, 2010, a collision | 0:46:11 | 0:46:16 | |
involving Peter Yandell, Michelle Yandell, Jonathan Cook also | 0:46:17 | 0:46:22 | |
allegedly collided with a taxi driver. That was the night when | 0:46:23 | 0:46:27 | |
Byron Yandell went out on his stag do. Peter Yandell went with him, | 0:46:28 | 0:46:32 | |
this was after the collision. Shell Yandell was allegedly so serious the | 0:46:33 | 0:46:35 | |
injured she took to her bed for two days. We have footage showing her at | 0:46:36 | 0:46:44 | |
that wedding, smiling happily. Peter is clearly having a good time | 0:46:45 | 0:46:48 | |
too, despite a personal injury that was to net him ?2000. The reason he | 0:46:49 | 0:46:53 | |
was wearing dark glasses was not anything to do with the crash, he | 0:46:54 | 0:46:58 | |
got a black eye in a fight on Byron's stag night. He was to claim | 0:46:59 | 0:47:02 | |
criminal injuries compensation for that too. | 0:47:03 | 0:47:07 | |
And there's more. Two weeks later, Peter and Michelle Yandell went on a | 0:47:08 | 0:47:14 | |
cruise to Egypt and Turkey. We seized the computers and found | 0:47:15 | 0:47:16 | |
plenty of photographs that clearly showed she was enjoying herself, she | 0:47:17 | 0:47:23 | |
was dancing, walking, she was in the sea, in swimming pools. Clearly not | 0:47:24 | 0:47:28 | |
as injured as sheep trade to the GB or the medical examiner Dr. | 0:47:29 | 0:47:36 | |
She portrayed to the GP. Receipts show she paid ?1900 for this | 0:47:37 | 0:47:41 | |
holiday, the exact amount almost that Michelle claimed in a collision | 0:47:42 | 0:47:43 | |
that never happened. After years of police | 0:47:44 | 0:47:53 | |
investigations, the trial of the ringleaders finally begins. They are | 0:47:54 | 0:47:57 | |
accused of conspiracy to the fraud, and are the first of almost 90 | 0:47:58 | 0:48:01 | |
alleged members of the Easifix network to go to court. | 0:48:02 | 0:48:08 | |
Heads of the can, Peter Yandell, his wife Michelle, their son Byron and | 0:48:09 | 0:48:12 | |
his now former wife Michelle. Peter's other son Gavin, the | 0:48:13 | 0:48:17 | |
Callaghans, Jennifer Kosh, Anthony and Patrick who have already pleaded | 0:48:18 | 0:48:21 | |
guilty. And the wider network were here too. | 0:48:22 | 0:48:27 | |
I was nervous, I knew we had a lot of evidence against them and | 0:48:28 | 0:48:29 | |
overwhelming evidence against them. But with any court case you can | 0:48:30 | 0:48:34 | |
never read a jury, and it depends how it comes across to them. | 0:48:35 | 0:48:39 | |
The trial lasted seven weeks. With the CCTV, the jury could see what | 0:48:40 | 0:48:44 | |
the gang had been up to. How stolen cars were laundered, for example. | 0:48:45 | 0:48:50 | |
This BMW arrived at Easifix bearing strange that familiar numberplates. | 0:48:51 | 0:48:54 | |
It had once been an Peter Yandells Motability car. The jury was told | 0:48:55 | 0:48:59 | |
how the Yandells took the numberplates of the crashed car and | 0:49:00 | 0:49:04 | |
put them on this stolen BMW. Which they planned to sell on. | 0:49:05 | 0:49:11 | |
And Easifix regulars Dean Cronin, Gareth James, Lee Evans and Robert | 0:49:12 | 0:49:17 | |
Alexander are seen here helping themselves to some of the property | 0:49:18 | 0:49:21 | |
they found inside the stolen car. Including a child's car seat. | 0:49:22 | 0:49:28 | |
As the weeks progressed, more and more of the evidence that was being | 0:49:29 | 0:49:32 | |
presented, you can see the look of concerns. What change the case | 0:49:33 | 0:49:39 | |
completely was when Rachel and Byron decided they were going to stand in | 0:49:40 | 0:49:44 | |
the box and give evidence. The QC, Chris Clee, he then started | 0:49:45 | 0:49:50 | |
cross-examining them, and it was embarrassing to watch. He tied them | 0:49:51 | 0:49:54 | |
up in knots. The lies that are coming out, they were just dripping | 0:49:55 | 0:49:59 | |
themselves up constantly. Byron tried to state all these were | 0:50:00 | 0:50:05 | |
genuine accidents. He knew people after the collision, got to know | 0:50:06 | 0:50:08 | |
them. Rachel's defence was, it wasn't me. I'm not involved in the | 0:50:09 | 0:50:14 | |
business, I am only a barmaid, it's nothing to do with me. And all her | 0:50:15 | 0:50:20 | |
collisions were genuine. The jury saw the Yandells and others | 0:50:21 | 0:50:24 | |
bringing in stolen tools. Everyone could see that they were | 0:50:25 | 0:50:28 | |
lying. Rachel was quite hostile when she started to light. And Byron, | 0:50:29 | 0:50:35 | |
when it was a blatant lie, would look to the floor. It was very clear | 0:50:36 | 0:50:39 | |
to see. And whereas I said before you can't read age eight, I think we | 0:50:40 | 0:50:43 | |
started to read the jury on that occasion. You would look at the | 0:50:44 | 0:50:50 | |
faces and it was at a disbelief that they were coming out with this. | 0:50:51 | 0:50:57 | |
Byron and Peter Yandell each got six years. Rachel five years. Gavin | 0:50:58 | 0:51:05 | |
Yandell and Jennifer Karsh got three years. Anthony Callaghan 27 months, | 0:51:06 | 0:51:13 | |
and his brother Patrick got 24 months, suspended. Michelle, who had | 0:51:14 | 0:51:16 | |
taken to a wheelchair at certain points in the trial, got two years. | 0:51:17 | 0:51:23 | |
Custodial sentences to the majority of people with multiple claims, as | 0:51:24 | 0:51:26 | |
far as we're concerned, sent out the right message to people that this | 0:51:27 | 0:51:30 | |
type of crime, it is not a victimless crime, and there for | 0:51:31 | 0:51:34 | |
hopefully will act as a deterrent to others to not commit those crimes | 0:51:35 | 0:51:37 | |
again. Police hope the sentences will now | 0:51:38 | 0:51:41 | |
persuade the dozens of others in the company might network to change | 0:51:42 | 0:51:45 | |
their pleas to guilty to avoid lengthy court hearings. | 0:51:46 | 0:51:49 | |
Evidence at the trial raised questions about how easy it seemed | 0:51:50 | 0:51:54 | |
to be duped the insurance industry. Aviva was one of the worst affected | 0:51:55 | 0:52:00 | |
by the scam. One crash alone cost them ?38,000 and five more. -- and | 0:52:01 | 0:52:07 | |
there were five more. The good news is that we have | 0:52:08 | 0:52:11 | |
invested significantly in the detection of organised fraud since | 0:52:12 | 0:52:14 | |
then, we have repudiated fraudulent claims worth ?35 million last year. | 0:52:15 | 0:52:22 | |
The courses there is too much easy Kas and too much financial incentive | 0:52:23 | 0:52:30 | |
and profit in the system. -- easy cash. | 0:52:31 | 0:52:35 | |
The UK Government has brought in legislation banning referral fees | 0:52:36 | 0:52:41 | |
for personal injury claims, and reducing the money lawyers can make. | 0:52:42 | 0:52:45 | |
It has tightened up on the medical reporting system. It is also just | 0:52:46 | 0:52:49 | |
announced there will be no condensation from minor whiplash | 0:52:50 | 0:52:53 | |
claims. The police say there are lots of | 0:52:54 | 0:52:56 | |
things the insurance industry can do to protect itself and us from the | 0:52:57 | 0:53:02 | |
spiralling costs of fraud. There were a number of issues we | 0:53:03 | 0:53:06 | |
identified right to the course of the enquiry. The insurance industry | 0:53:07 | 0:53:12 | |
themselves, quite easily tackle, in some respects, just the reporting of | 0:53:13 | 0:53:17 | |
the collision. What was the extent of the damage? Do you have | 0:53:18 | 0:53:21 | |
photographs? If someone was hurt, was at reported to the police? Under | 0:53:22 | 0:53:25 | |
the Road Traffic Act, you must report an accident were someone is | 0:53:26 | 0:53:29 | |
injured. Throughout the enquiry we only identified to collisions that | 0:53:30 | 0:53:35 | |
were recorded to the police, out of 70. All of them should have been | 0:53:36 | 0:53:38 | |
reported to the police. The Easifix case repeatedly | 0:53:39 | 0:53:44 | |
highlighted how easy it was to tell, if you just looked at the pictures | 0:53:45 | 0:53:47 | |
of the car is involved, that the collisions could not have happened | 0:53:48 | 0:53:49 | |
the way described. They are not looking at the whole | 0:53:50 | 0:53:55 | |
incident. It is easy to say that two vehicles have come together. But | 0:53:56 | 0:53:59 | |
there should be clear evidence to support the fact that they have. But | 0:54:00 | 0:54:04 | |
currently, the insurance companies just look at one vehicle, and the | 0:54:05 | 0:54:10 | |
other insurance vehicle will have -- insurance company will look at the | 0:54:11 | 0:54:13 | |
other vehicle, and not exchange that common thread. | 0:54:14 | 0:54:18 | |
Two vehicles involved in the same accident will be examined separately | 0:54:19 | 0:54:24 | |
and not by the same engineer. That means that sometimes that's a link | 0:54:25 | 0:54:29 | |
that would be obvious to the experience I looking at both | 0:54:30 | 0:54:32 | |
accidents is lost. It can happen. Sometimes, there | 0:54:33 | 0:54:37 | |
would be evidence that might not come out, just because there are to | 0:54:38 | 0:54:42 | |
get sets of eyes looking at it. But our aim is always to get one of the | 0:54:43 | 0:54:46 | |
engineers to look at both reports, to try and draw the consistency of | 0:54:47 | 0:54:49 | |
points together. Is that some thing you're likely to | 0:54:50 | 0:54:52 | |
think more about in the future? Do you take that point from the police? | 0:54:53 | 0:54:58 | |
Would it be useful? We have always looked at that point, but, surely, | 0:54:59 | 0:55:02 | |
sometimes, it is not possible to do it. But it is a good point that I | 0:55:03 | 0:55:06 | |
know the industry has been seeking to adjust. | 0:55:07 | 0:55:13 | |
By now nearly all of the 87 Easifix suspects had been found guilty | 0:55:14 | 0:55:20 | |
admitted involvement in the scam. The case against Florence fillets, | 0:55:21 | 0:55:24 | |
Gavin and Byron's grandmother, was dropped because of bad health. Bank | 0:55:25 | 0:55:29 | |
worker Stephanie Barwood had pleaded guilty. Her victim, J Lawrence, was | 0:55:30 | 0:55:34 | |
at court to watch are being sentenced. | 0:55:35 | 0:55:39 | |
I just could not believe the look on Stephanie Barwood's face, she was so | 0:55:40 | 0:55:43 | |
nonchalant, she thought you was quite get away with it. The mother | 0:55:44 | 0:55:46 | |
just sat and stared at me, same as the brother. And then she was | 0:55:47 | 0:55:53 | |
sentenced and her face dropped. Stephanie Barwood's chin hit the | 0:55:54 | 0:55:58 | |
floor. And I'm sorry, I wanted to laugh at that point. That was the | 0:55:59 | 0:56:01 | |
most funny thing about it. I wanted to clap, and I couldn't because I | 0:56:02 | 0:56:06 | |
was in a court. Barwood was sentenced to three years | 0:56:07 | 0:56:10 | |
in prison. Her partner, Lee Evans, got 33 months. William Veall, the | 0:56:11 | 0:56:16 | |
man who lied about being a witness to the crash, got three years and | 0:56:17 | 0:56:19 | |
three months for that and other fraudulent claims. | 0:56:20 | 0:56:23 | |
Police think the Easifix scam may have cost insurance is ?30 million. | 0:56:24 | 0:56:32 | |
They got greedy. If there was a couple of accidents, | 0:56:33 | 0:56:37 | |
in a few months, they may have got away with it. | 0:56:38 | 0:56:39 | |
It was sheer greed that got them caught. | 0:56:40 | 0:56:42 | |
It took four years to investigate and bring to book the company map | 0:56:43 | 0:56:47 | |
families. By which time Detective Sergeant Andy Cullen had retired. | 0:56:48 | 0:56:52 | |
Very pleasing when they were all found guilty. Very pleasing when the | 0:56:53 | 0:56:56 | |
sentencing was received. It meant that the last couple of years of my | 0:56:57 | 0:56:59 | |
service as a police officer were not in vain. | 0:57:00 | 0:57:04 | |
Since the trials we have learned that Michelle and Peter Yandell were | 0:57:05 | 0:57:08 | |
also indicted for benefit fraud. It is alleged they falsely claimed | 0:57:09 | 0:57:13 | |
nearly ?70,000 for care and mobility allowances between them. | 0:57:14 | 0:57:18 | |
Get a good shot, make sure it is a good one. | 0:57:19 | 0:57:21 | |
The case against them was not pursued because they were going to | 0:57:22 | 0:57:26 | |
prison anyway. But one of the biggest insurance fraud that Wales | 0:57:27 | 0:57:27 | |
has ever seen. | 0:57:28 | 0:57:30 |