A fraudster was jailed today for trying to claim compensation from a number of local councils for injuries he had never suffered.
Nathan Williams said he had tripped and fallen on the pavement in streets across eight London boroughs.
Prosecutors estimated that if his claims had been successful they would have netted him more than £20,000 – and would have cost the local authorities more than £100,000.
Williams claimed he had suffered injuries in Greenwich, Hackney, Haringey, Lewisham, Westminster, Wandsworth, Tower Hamlets and Southwark between 2007 and 2008.
The 38-year-old used the fictional accidents to make a string of personal injury claims against the local authorities and Transport for London (TfL), which has responsibility for red routes.
He obtained £2,800 for a separate claim of a similar nature made against a private company, Southwark Crown Court in London was told.
Williams, who has seven previous convictions and no fixed address, pleaded guilty to eight counts of fraud and was sentenced to 15 months in prison.
He was given a 15-month sentence for each offence, to run concurrently, and was told he must serve at least half of this time in prison.
The fraud came to light when an investigator noticed that three or four claims had been made by the same person, prosecutor Tim Banks told the court.
Unemployed Williams was arrested last November and his computer was seized.
On it were various files marked “projects”.
Mr Banks said: “A certain amount of planning went into this. The claims were accompanied by photos of the pavement that was damaged and in some cases there was a witness, which the Crown says was fictitious.”
Source and Acknowledgement: The Independent
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