TWO men who attempted a “ham-fisted” crash for cash scam by staging an accident between two cars in full public view have been spared immediate prison sentences.

Sam Borbely and Luke Gaughan hatched the “stupid” plot to dishonestly claim £7,000 in vehicle repairs, Bradford Crown Court heard yesterday.

The 25-year-olds each pleaded guilty to conspiring to defraud insurance companies by faking the accident, between Gaughan’s white Vauxhall Corsa and Borbely’s Peugeot, at the junction of Black Moor Road and Denholme Road, Oxenhope, on November 14, 2014.

Borbely, of Thornaby Drive, Clayton, Bradford, also admitted dangerous driving while on bail by overtaking in the dark on a blind bend. He crashed head-on into a young mother with her baby in the car, on Keighley Road, Bingley, on November 1 last year. His victim spent a night in hospital with severe whiplash.

Prosecutor Martin Robertshaw told the court that Gaughan, of Cockin Lane, Clayton, paid Borbely £500 to write off the Peugeot in the crash. He planned to claim £7,000 for repairs to his car that had been previously damaged.

A suspicious witness saw the men conversing before the crash. The Corsa then deliberately reversed into the Peugeot.

The police attended and both men admitted staging the accident. They were warned not to make a claim from their insurance companies.

Borbely scrapped his vehicle, saying the crash was his fault, while Gaughan was lent a hire car by his insurer while his Corsa was awaiting repair.

The scam was revealed when a team from the City of London Police’s Insurance Fraud Enforcement Department (IFED) began an investigation.

Although Gaughan’s car was not repaired, Aviva had lost £420 and Insure The Box £861, the court was told.

Gaughan’s solicitor advocate, Ray Singh, said: “It was such a bungled attempt that they really did not have the nous to go through with this.

“They banged two cars together in broad daylight in front of eye-witnesses. It was the height of stupidity.”

John Bottomley, for Borbely, said the fraud was the work of “two foolish young men, with no planning or sophistication”.

Borbely went along with it because he was sorry for Gaughan whose car had been damaged deliberately and he could not afford to have it repaired.

Judge David Hatton QC said it has been a "ham-fisted attempt" by both men.

“Insurance companies rely upon the integrity and honesty of their customers. It is a business relationship based upon trust and the making of false insurance claims has become far too common. It undermines the entire system and penalises those who conduct themselves honestly.”

Judge Hatton labelled Gaughan the prime mover.

“It was your brainchild, as far as any brain work at all went into it,” he said.

Both men were sentenced to four months imprisonment, suspended for 12 months.

Gaughan was ordered to pay £1,280 compensation to the insurance companies.

Borbely received a consecutive eight month suspended jail sentence for dangerous driving. He was banned from driving for 12 months and ordered to do 100 hours of unpaid work and a rehabilitation activity with the probation service.

After the case, Inspector Alan Rhees-Cooper, of the Keighley Neighbourhood Policing Team, said: “It is not an offence to deliberately damage your own property. Therefore, when the two individuals admitted to PC Peter Brown that they had deliberately driven one vehicle into another, they had not committed a criminal offence.

“However, the officer suspected that they had a criminal motive and intended to defraud their insurance companies. Despite warning them not to attempt to do this, they went ahead any way. Unfortunately for them, PC Brown decided to diligently make further checks afterwards and alerted the insurance companies to this potential scam which ultimately led to their arrest.”