A 31-YEAR-OLD man who tried to defraud insurers by making false claims about items he said had been damaged in a fire has been fined £2,500.
The Magistrate’s Court heard that there had been a fire at the home of Ricardo Fernandes Figueira on 19 July this year. Advocate Jordan Gollop, prosecuting, said there was no suggestion that the fire had been caused deliberately.
But he said that afterwards Figueira had tried to make false claims about an electric bike and a mobile phone he said had been damaged in the fire. He used forged documents which he claimed came from the shops where he had bought the items, the court heard. No further detail about the nature of Figueira’s fraudulent claim was given.
The offence soon came to light, and Advocate Mark Boothman, defending, said the fraud had not been ‘a sophisticated effort’.
He said: ‘The documents were always going to arouse significant suspicion because of their wording.
‘He fully accepts that his conduct has been completely unacceptable, and has caused his family some stress and anxiety.’
Advocate Boothman said his client was of previous good behaviour and described him as ‘a law-abiding, hard-working family man’.
Figueira admitted charges of uttering false documents and attempted fraud.
During sentencing, Assistant Magistrate Peter Harris said: ‘Your actions were inexplicable and they were stupid, but they were still criminal.’
He imposed fines of £1,250 for each of the two false claims and allowed Figueira to make payments of £250 per month.
