A woman has been convicted of fraud after a fake insurance claim was submitted in her name that she was a passenger on a bus involved in a collision.
Jadie Alice Hewitt was found guilty by a jury at Leeds Crown Court yesterday of the offence after the claim was submitted with others following a minor collision involving an Arriva bus at Dewsbury bus station on January 30, 2012.
David Hall, prosecuting, said no other vehicle was involved and because it was the fault of the driver the company agreed to settle the claims from the few passengers on board.
Those claims were handled by their own in-house legal team and it included a man called Sukhpal Singh who made a genuine claim.
Following that settlement further personal injury claims were submitted including one from Hewitt and three from Jaspal Singh, Dilbir Singh and Ajmer Singh who it turned out were not on the bus at the time of the collision.
The claim made in the name of Hewitt for injury to her neck, lower back, hips and disc displacement was never pursued after the request for a photo was not answered.
She told the jury she had not played a part in the claim but had passed on her personal details under duress.
Hewitt, 21 of Meltham Road, Huddersfield was given a conditional discharge for 12 months after Judge James Spencer QC said: “In my judgment you were placed under enormous pressure by those people who took advantage of you.”
He said while it might not have amounted to a defence in law, the prosecution had described it as bullying “and I think that is what it was.”
The three men from Huddersfield were all given community orders last year after they admitted the offence.
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