Two men and a woman have been jailed for staging a car crash with the intent of making a fraudulent insurance claim.
Qasim Nasser, 28, and Hanna Sheikh, 29, both of Nascot Place, Watford, and Ishaaq Kassam, 21, of Alexandra Avenue, Harrow, were sentenced to a collective total of three years and nine months at Harrow Crown Court on Thursday, July 27.
Early in the morning on February 9, 2016, the emergency services attended a collision between a white BMW M3 and a Honda CRV hire car on Berrygrove Lane in Watford.
The BMW, owned and driven by Nasser, had supposedly broken down due to a flat tyre before being struck by the Honda, driven by Kassam. Sheikh, Nasser’s wife, complained of back pain and had to be cut free by the fire service who removed the vehicle’s roof. Nasser got out of the vehicle but later complained of back pain and was taken to hospital on a spinal board.
During an investigation by the Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire and Hertfordshire Roads Policing Unit, the BMW’s tyre was examined and no defect was found. It was soon discovered that both parties in each car were known to each other and had staged the collision to make a fraudulent insurance claim. As a result Nasser, Sheikh and Kassam were arrested and charged. They were all found guilty of conspiracy to commita fraud by false representation following an eight-day trial. Nasser was sentenced to two years, Sheikh to one year and Ishaaq to nine months in prison.
