Judge orders £51,000 to be confiscated from 'crash for cash' conman

A judge has ruled that more than £51,000 will be confiscated from a boxer previously jailed for 18 months for masterminding a ‘crash for cash’ scam.

The order at the Old Bailey is as a result of action taken by the Insurance Fraud Enforcement Department (IFED) to recover money from Kevin Heartbreak who submitted bogus claims to Aviva off the back of 12 invented crashes.

The £51,000 will be taken from Heartbreak’s bank account as well as the proceeds from the sale of a BMW 3 Series and Mini Cooper Convertible, and his ‘FIILRT’ car registration plate.

If he defaults on the payment his sentence will be increased by up to 18 months.

IFED financial investigator Simon Styles said: “Enforcing this compensation order is about hitting Heartbreak where it hurts, by making him sell his prized possessions – his cars.

“This confiscation should send a message to anyone thinking of committing insurance fraud: we will bring you to justice and ultimately deprive you of the proceeds of your criminal activity.”

The City of London Police unit applied for the confiscation in May 2013, after Heartbreak, who pleaded guilty to 11 counts of fraud by false representation, was jailed for 18 months.

He admitted to insuring scrap cars with Aviva under aliases and then reporting the cars were in accidents and that while trading as Thunder Storm Cars, he lodged bogus damage and whiplash claims, as well as car recovery and storage claims.

But the scam was uncovered by Aviva which confirmed that Thunder Storm Cars was not storing the vehicles alleged to have been involved in accidents and reported the discovery to IFED.

Following his arrest in August 2012, officers seized pay-as-you-go mobile phones, computers and identity documents.

The documents revealed that Heartbreak had changed his name by deed poll numerous times since 2008, which detectives believe allowed him to legitimately obtain identity documents, including driving licences, in different names.

Aviva head of fraud Tom Gardiner said, “The recovery of the proceeds of crime is important to mitigating the cost of fraud to innocent policyholders and, along with proportionate sentencing, creating an effective deterrent to offenders.”