An insurance fraudster who claimed he was housebound was jailed after the insurer unearthed Facebook photos of him holidaying in Italy.
Graham Loveday was jailed for nine months at the High Court yesterday. His wife, Susan, 52, was given a six months conditional suspended sentence after a partial admission of liability.
Loveday sued elderly motorist Edward Neild for a six-figure sum for psychiatric and back injuries, plus a lost earnings claim of over £25,000 a year.
However, Acromas – formely known as Saga – put surveillance on the former lorry driver and also unearthed pictures on Facebook of him enjoying a holiday at the Italian Lakes, proving his injuries were exaggerated well beyond his housebound statement.
Law firm Keoghs acting for Acromas and Neild said the conviction would send out a strong deterent.
Neil Southern, from Keogh’s complex injury claim unit, said: “The people and legal advisors acting on behalf of the claimant should regard the judgment handed down yesterday as a very stark warning.
“If they chose to pursue false claims and make statements in documentation they know to be untrue, and is likely to interfere with the course of justice, then they need to recognise that neither the insurance industry nor the judicidary will tolerate it and the ramifcations will be very serious.”
Southern said that when Facebook users have an open profile, and there is reasonable grounds to suspect fraud, there was nothing wrong in using the material in relation to data privacy.
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