Flashman
6th Jan 2006, 17:05
Insurance scam traffic cop jailed
AN arrogant Herts traffic policeman was jailed for 12 months yesterday (Thursday, 05 January) for trying to defraud an insurance company after he fell off his motorbike.
PC Richard Wilmot-Day told a series of lies and forged an invoice in an attempt to cash in on the accident, then lied to a judge after his bogus claim for more than £1,300 was rumbled.
The disgraced officer was sentenced at St Albans Crown Court after a jury found him guilty of forgery and perverting the course of justice.
Judge Geoffrey Breen said Wilmot-Day, 49, had shown "a breath-taking degree of arrogance". He is set to be sacked from the area road policing team at force HQ in Welwyn Garden City.
"It is a tragedy to see that a man of your background should have thrown away your career for a relatively small amount of money," the judge told him.
Wilmot-Day joined Herts police in 1994, having spent 12 years in the Army. He had also piloted Prince Charles during four years working as a helicopter pilot.
Assistant Chief Constable Simon Parr said: "Herts Constabulary does not tolerate corruption among its staff, and measures are in place to detect inappropriate conduct."
The accident which led to Wilmot-Day's downfall happened in his home town of Biggleswade, Bedfordshire, in April 2003. He swerved to avoid a car pulling out of a drive and fell off his BMW motorbike.
He told Churchill, the driver's insurance company, he had spent £1,342 on replacement parts. When the company delayed paying, Wilmot-Day made an audacious demand for interest on the money he insisted he was owed.
An invoice submitted to back up his claim was found to be a forgery. But when a fraud investigator told Wilmot-Day his scam had been uncovered, instead of backing down he took the case to Hitchin County Court and won.
When Churchill appealed, Wilmot-Day lied repeatedly to the judge at Luton Crown Court, claiming he had never seen the forged invoice.
He was arrested in October 2004 and experts found no parts had been replaced on his bike.
Check here (http://www.hertsessexnews.co.uk/news/mercury/hertfordshire_mercury/2006/01/06/insurance%20scam%20traffic%20cop%20jailed.lpf) for full story.
Wasn't this one "Dick Wilmot" as he was then known, ex-9 Regt AAC, Detmold & later Ballykelly fame?
AN arrogant Herts traffic policeman was jailed for 12 months yesterday (Thursday, 05 January) for trying to defraud an insurance company after he fell off his motorbike.
PC Richard Wilmot-Day told a series of lies and forged an invoice in an attempt to cash in on the accident, then lied to a judge after his bogus claim for more than £1,300 was rumbled.
The disgraced officer was sentenced at St Albans Crown Court after a jury found him guilty of forgery and perverting the course of justice.
Judge Geoffrey Breen said Wilmot-Day, 49, had shown "a breath-taking degree of arrogance". He is set to be sacked from the area road policing team at force HQ in Welwyn Garden City.
"It is a tragedy to see that a man of your background should have thrown away your career for a relatively small amount of money," the judge told him.
Wilmot-Day joined Herts police in 1994, having spent 12 years in the Army. He had also piloted Prince Charles during four years working as a helicopter pilot.
Assistant Chief Constable Simon Parr said: "Herts Constabulary does not tolerate corruption among its staff, and measures are in place to detect inappropriate conduct."
The accident which led to Wilmot-Day's downfall happened in his home town of Biggleswade, Bedfordshire, in April 2003. He swerved to avoid a car pulling out of a drive and fell off his BMW motorbike.
He told Churchill, the driver's insurance company, he had spent £1,342 on replacement parts. When the company delayed paying, Wilmot-Day made an audacious demand for interest on the money he insisted he was owed.
An invoice submitted to back up his claim was found to be a forgery. But when a fraud investigator told Wilmot-Day his scam had been uncovered, instead of backing down he took the case to Hitchin County Court and won.
When Churchill appealed, Wilmot-Day lied repeatedly to the judge at Luton Crown Court, claiming he had never seen the forged invoice.
He was arrested in October 2004 and experts found no parts had been replaced on his bike.
Check here (http://www.hertsessexnews.co.uk/news/mercury/hertfordshire_mercury/2006/01/06/insurance%20scam%20traffic%20cop%20jailed.lpf) for full story.
Wasn't this one "Dick Wilmot" as he was then known, ex-9 Regt AAC, Detmold & later Ballykelly fame?