Southend man sentenced for repeated false injury claims

A former factory worker has been sentenced for submitting three fraudulent personal injury insurance claims following an investigation by the City of London Police’s Insurance Fraud Enforcement Department.

Julius Sodipo, from Shoeburyness, Southend submitted a genuine claim for an injury he sustained during an accident at a factory where he only worked for three days back in 2001. Although he never returned after the incident, Sodipo decided to submit further false claims between 2010 and 2014, using similar details and circumstances from the genuine accident and just changing the dates.

The false claims, which were all rejected by the insurer Allianz, were referred to the Insurance Fraud Enforcement Department (IFED) in March 2015. Following an investigation by IFED detectives, Sodipo, was summonsed to appear at City of London Magistrates’ Court on 12 April, where he pleaded guilty to three counts of fraud by false representation.

He was sentenced to a 12-month community order and ordered to carry out 80 hours of unpaid work and pay £145 in costs and surcharges.

In July 2001, Sodipo was involved in an accident where he fell through a ceiling at the factory he worked at in Benfleet, Essex. A subsequent personal injury claim was submitted and Sodipo was paid just over £5,000 compensation for the injuries he sustained.

However, in September 2010, Sodipo approached a law firm, stating that he’d been involved in an accident at the same workplace on 5 May 2008. A claim was put in to Allianz, but was rejected the next month after basic checks with the company revealed Sodipo had not worked there since 2001.

Undeterred, Sodipo submitted another claim via a law firm in November 2014, this time claiming he’d been injured at work in July 2012. Again, Allianz rejected the claim soon after.

A third claim was submitted by Sodipo the following month, which was rejected once more. However, seeing that Sodipo had made several false claims, the case was referred on to IFED to investigate.

Detective Constable Eva Woods, from the Insurance Fraud Enforcement Department, who investigated the case said: “Sodipo thought that there was little or no risk in submitting the fraudulent claims through ‘no win, no fee’ law firms. He thought at best he would get another pay-out and at worst the claim would just get rejected.

“However, submitting a false claim is a criminal offence, and Sodipo now has a criminal record which will follow him around for years to come. I also hope the story of this case acts as a warning to others who think it is OK to make a false claim.”

Lee Watts, head of casualty claims, Allianz said:  “I’m not sure why Mr Sodipo thought he could get away with submitting multiple fraudulent claims for injuries when he wasn’t even working for the company at the time.  I would have been disappointed had we not caught such a blatant attempt at trying to commit fraud and I’m afraid Mr Sodipo will now have to live with the consequences of trying to defraud Allianz.”

 

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