Two insurance brokers have been jailed after defrauding hundreds of small businesses out of insurance premiums.
Paul Newton and Mathew Walker, who ran insurance business Preston Whiteside, were sentenced to 15 months and eight months imprisonment respectively.
The pair, who were also disqualified as company directors for seven years, admitted fraudulent trading, predominantly in Northern Ireland, after creating a multi-million pound uninsured risk vacuum.
The convictions follow a three-year investigation by the Serious Fraud Office (SFO).
The case heard that until the summer of 2002 Preston Whiteside placed Northern Irish clients, who were typically small businesses, with NIG via another broker.
NIG stopped accepting business from Northern Ireland in June 2002, but Newton and Walker continued to accept business, receive premiums and sent out 'cover in place' letters to more than 500 clients, thereby leading them to believe they had sufficient cover when they did not.
In sentencing the two, His Honour Judge Murphy, described the actions of Newton and Walker as "moving from ethically questionable to down right dishonesty and greed".
Preston Whiteside specialised in public liability and employers' liability insurance for small businesses and tradesmen.
Newton, who joined in 1997/98, bought the business in 2001, with Walker acting as his second in command.
