Attempted to defraud two insurance companies

A fireman was jailed for five years after deliberately setting fire to his sports car in an attempted insurance scam.

Anthony Murray arranged for his friend Gareth Collier to torch his BMW Alpina after he struggled to pay back the loan for the £47,000 sports car, the Daily Mirror reports.

The car was set alight just yards from Skelmersdale fire station, West Lancashire, where he worked. Murray even arranged for a hoax call to be made to the fire brigade so they were away from the station during the arson.

Police rumbled the plot after Collier’s car was spotted near the scene and found his DNA on a cigarette lighter nearby.

Two other vehicles were damaged in the fire.

Murray admitted conspiracy to commit arson and two offences of fraud involving separate insurance companies.

Collier pleaded guilty to arson and was jailed for two years and three months.

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