Wigan man who made hoax insurance protection claims sentenced

Philip Garvin, 64 of Snowshill Drive, Wigan, was found guilty of providing false account information on two separate occasions in order to make false insurance protection claims worth over £5500, after the case was referred to City of London Police’s Insurance Fraud Enforcement Department (IFED).

Yesterday (Thursday) at Wigan Magistrates’ Court, Garvin was found guilty of two counts of fraud by false representation and sentenced to 12 months’ imprisonment, suspended for two years, and a 12-month home curfew between the hours of 7pm and 7am.

The first false claim was made in August 2012 against a policy that Garvin had taken out in June 2012 with Trent Services. Garvin claimed that he could not work because he had ‘sustained a neck injury’. He provided a false set of earnings and the claim was denied as evidence showed that this injury had been ongoing prior to him taking out the policy. Evidence provided to the court showed that the accounts submitted to Trent Services by Garvin were much higher than those provided to HMRC.

The second bogus claim was made in June 2014 against a policy that Garvin had taken out in June 2012 with Cardif Pinnacle. In the claim, Garvin stated that he had been unable to work since 9 June 2014 ‘due to a knee injury’. Within the claim, documents containing Garvin’s proof of earnings for the time period he was claiming for were submitted by a ‘Mark Kingston’, who was allegedly Garvin’s accountant.

Police officers later discovered that the telephone number Kingston had provided was a second number owned and used by Garvin, and the address that Kingston had provided was an address that Garvin had leased since 2002, despite Garvin initially denying any association with the address.

Accountancy bodies ACCA and AAT both confirmed that no person by the name of Mark Kingston had been registered with them at that address.

The claim was rejected by Cardif Pinnacle as they believed that Garvin had provided falsified and fraudulent accountancy documents. He also refused to comply when asked to provide 12 months’ proof of his earnings, as well as repeatedly contacting Cardif Pinnacle and giving different email addresses on which they could supposedly reach Kingston. Having had his claim rejected, Garvin took the matter to the Financial Ombudsman Services, who denied Garvin’s claim.

Evidence provided to the court also showed that the accounts submitted to Cardif Pinnacle by Garvin were much higher than those provided to HMRC.

Garvin denied creating ‘Mark Kingston’ and his earnings to show falsified earnings in order to make a fraudulent claim against Cardif Pinnacle, stating instead that Kingston was the cause of the problems regarding his claim.

Speaking of the case, Detective Constable Jamie Kirk of IFED said: “We are pleased that this case has come to a close and justice has been served.

“Motivated by greed, this man tried to manipulate the insurance system, but this case highlights the fact that insurance fraud is a serious crime that will not go unpunished.”

At court, Garvin was also ordered to pay £135 in victim surcharges and £85 in costs.