Two jailed for their part in cash-for-crash insurance scam

Businesswoman Alison Redman, 45, and Niki McKenzie, 33, were the last individuals to be sentenced in a series of trials involving 69 people – including vehicle recovery boss Paul Jonathan Wright, who was jailed for seven years at a previous hearing.

The linchpin of the conspiracy, Wright, 40, used his auto company PJ Autos based in Craghead, County Durham, as cover for the scam. Following a three-month trial at Newcastle Crown Court, Redman and McKenzie were convicted last month for their involvement in a fraudulent claim amounting to £32,986.

Passing sentence today, Judge Roger Thorn QC said: “What remains bewildering is why you should have persisted in your not guilty pleas against the strong prosecution evidence.”

Robin Patton, prosecuting, said a man (who cannot be claimed for legal reasons) claimed he had lost control of his Volvo and had collided with a stationary Range Rover, driven by Redman, near Grange Villa, in the Chester-le-Street area, in January 2009.

Redman and McKenzie - who claimed to be a passenger in the Volvo - went through the charade of seeing a doctor and faking whiplash injuries.

Mr Patton said, when experts examined the Range Rover they found it had such severe mechanical problems, it could not have driven to the scene of the alleged accident scene. If there had been a collision it would have had to have been staged in the yard of PJ Autos.

Matthew Buckland, mitigating for Redman, said she had been a medical secretary and ran her own dog breeding business.

He said: “She is, was and hopefully will be again an ordinary decent hard-working woman. “ He added McKenzie was a “decent family man and father” who was “right at the bottom” in terms of responsibility in the fraud.

Redman of Twizell Dykes Farm Cottage, Grange Villa, Chester-le-Street, and McKenzie, of Banbury Gardens, Wallsend, had both denied conspiracy to commit fraud by making a make false representation.