TWO men have been jailed for their roles in a sophisticated crash for cash scam that involved inventing a car accident in central Bradford.

Private hire driver Shazad Saddique and former security officer, Humayou Qureshi, were each locked up for 20 months at Bradford Crown Court yesterday.

A third defendant, Taimoor Khan, who got "cold feet" about the plot was sentenced to a 12 month community order with 200 hours of unpaid work.

Prosecutor Graham O'Sullivan said Sadiqque, 42, of Langdale Gardens, Headingley, Leeds, and former Bradford man, Qureshi, 28, now of Northcroft Way, Birmingham, claimed their cars had crashed in Killinghall Road, Bradford, on February 27, 2014.

Khan, 30, of Sandhurst Road, Moseley, Birmingham, was recruited by Qureshi to pretend he was a passenger in his car.

But he pulled out of the scam before undergoing a medical examination and was the first of the three defendants to plead guilty to fraud.

"I am satisfied you had no stomach for this," Judge Jonathan Durham Hall QC told Khan.

Jailing Saddique and Qureshi, the judge called for telematics boxes to be fitted to all vehicles after hearing how such a tracking device in Saddique's BMW "gave the lie" to the crash story.

The court heard that the box showed that Saddique's car was damaged at a location off Leeds Road, Bradford, by five low impacts, designed to fool insurance firm Insure The Box into paying out.

Mr O'Sullivan said Saddique and two family members put in claims for personal injury, as did Qureshi and Khan.

Qureshi hired a Mercedes-Benz as part of the scam that would have fleeced Insure The Box out of about £36,000.

Loss to the company in administration and investigation costs was £13,102, Mr O'Sullivan said.

He told the court scams such as this hiked all drivers' insurance premiums.

"In this country, people pay £50 more than they should do because of this sort of fraudulent claim being made", he stated.

James Bourne-Arton, for Saddique, said it was a disastrous scheme bound to end in failure.

Saddique was a drug addict at the time, struggling financially.

In 2015, he was involved in a serious car accident he saw as "divine retribution" for his role in the fraud.

He turned his life around, freeing himself from drugs and working as a private hire driver.

Laura Herbert, for Qureshi, said he was gambling and taking drugs at the time. He had since moved to Birmingham to begin a new life and realised he had been "absolutely stupid".

Judge Durham Hall said Saddique and Qureshi made a concerted attempt to defraud the insurance company, submitting claims supported by solicitors and doctors.

"It was sophisticated. It was planned, carefully thought through, however stupid," the judge said.

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