Man hunt underway after insurance fraudster goes ‘on the run’

A businessman who was on trial for insurance fraud has gone on the run and a warrant has been issued for his arrest.

Shaun Keen was given a suspended sentence in 2015 for the fraud, but it was later found out that the character references provided, which had impressed the judge, were faked.

By the time this discovery was made, Keen had moved to Canada, as reported by Cambridge News.

In late 2016, he returned to the UK and was immediately arrested.

He was charged with perverting the course of justice and put on trial in Birmingham last week.

But, on the last day of the trial, the shamed businessman failed to show up to court. A manhunt is now on to capture him.

Keen was sentenced after he falsely claimed that his car had been stolen, when in fact he had been using it still for family trips to France.

He claimed that his Land Rover Discovery was stolen between July 2005 and January 2006. His family trips were recorded between 2006 and 2011.

The claim cost Direct Line over £18,000 in total, with more than a third of that (£6,300) going to Keen, himself.

When questioned, he tried saying the car had mysteriously reappeared with a threatening note, reading “you have messed with the wrong people”.

He also insisted that he had contacted the insurance company to tell them it had been recovered.

Keen pleaded guilty to obtaining property by deception at Cambridge Crown Court on 6 March 2015.

When sentencing him, Judge Mark Lucraft said: “A number of people have spoken highly of your attributes and what you have been doing over the past 21 years.”

Keen was given an eight-month custodial sentence suspended for 18 months – with 180 hours unpaid work for 12 months.

But it is likely his punishment will be a lot more severe after evading the courts twice.