Three sisters have avoided prison after becoming involved in a bogus compensation scam.

Recorder James Hill said he accepted that Nasreen Akhtar, 26, and her sisters Yasmin, 29, and Parveen, 27, had been pawns' in a scam to get compensation after a bump in Keighley last November.

He told them: "I am satisfied you came under the influence of somebody motivated by greed and dishonesty who influenced you to make the claim."

Recorder Hill said the women were not daft teenagers' but when put under pressure they had succumbed.

Prosecutor Paul Nicholson described how Nasreen Akhtar had reversed into Christine Hamilton's car at a petrol station on South Street, Keighley, last November.

By chance two police officers were at the station and they confirmed that there were only two people in Nasreen Akhtar's car and no injuries had been caused.

Mr Nicholson said the officers heard her say that the accident had been her fault.

But later Mrs Hamilton received a letter from a solicitor saying the accident was her fault and that Yasmin Akhtar had suffered a whiplash injury.

Mr Nicholson said the claim submitted by the sisters through an insurance consultant included £1,876 for the hire of another car, £754 for damage to Nasreen Akhtar's vehicle and damages for the injuries each of them had suffered.

Bradford Crown Court heard that the claim sparked correspondence between a firm of solicitors and the legal department of HSBC Insurance, but in March the sisters were arrested by police.

Although CCTV footage from the station confirmed Nasreen Akhtar had been at fault she maintained her car had been hit from behind when she was stationary.

She claimed she had suffered an injury.

She also maintained that both her sisters had been in the car and both suffered some sort of injury.

Yasmin Akhtar claimed she was texting when the accident happened and she suffered back and neck injuries as a result.

Parveen Akhtar said that she had been in the car and said her compensation claim was genuine. In June Nasreen and Yasmin, both of Mornington Street, Keighley, and their sister Parveen, of Malsis Road, Keighley, were charged with attempting to obtain property by deception. They all admitted the offence when they appeared at Bingley Magistrates' Court last month.

Their case was committed to Crown Court for sentence and Recorder Hill sentenced Nasreen and Yasmin Akhtar to nine months suspended for two years.

They will both be subject to supervision for the next 12 months and Nasreen Akhtar will also have to do 100 hours unpaid work for the community.

Recorder Hill was told that Parveen's role in the scam had been a lesser one and that she had to look after her young son who had already undergone major surgery for a serious heart problem.

Recorder Hill said in her case he was taking an exceptional course in imposing a conditional discharge for two years.

Barrister Michael Smith, for Nasreen Akhtar, said she was 'chastened' by the experience.