Fraudster who tried to claim nearly £500,000 for road crash injuries exposed after she went on the Jeremy Kyle Show
10 April 2024, 11:08
A fraudster who tried to claim for nearly £500,000 of injury damages from a road crash has been handed a suspended sentence.
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Patricia Rogers, from Barnsley, tried to claim the huge sum of £492,141 after she was involved in a crash in 2014.
She said she suffered a back injury that meant she was unable to walk without a stick or crutches.
But insurer NFU mutual, who covered the other driver involved, launched an investigation which found she was able to walk unaided for long periods- and she even went on The Jeremy Kyle Show twice in 2017 and 2018 where she walked, stood up, and even ran across the stage unaided.
Footage shows surveillance of Patricia Rogers
A judge described her decision to appear on the show as “an extraordinarily stupid decision.”
She in fact had suffered a “relatively minor injury” in the crash, which happened when she was 15 years old and in the car which was being driven by her stepfather, Sheffield Crown Court heard.
The bogus claim was initiated by her stepfather who has since died.
Sheffield Crown Court heard she went for a medical examination in April 2021 when the insurer raised concerns and told a doctor she was in “considerable pain.”
She attended the appointment in a taxi and walked to the vehicle while with a walking stick hanging from her arm, and after leaving the taxi, she entered the medical centre leaning heavily on the stick.
She wrote in a medical questionnaire that she claimed that she was unable to get dressed, washed with difficulty, and could not lift or carry anything. She alleged that her back pain stopped her from standing up for more than 10 minutes at a time and that she could only walk with a stick or crutches.
But earlier that day investigators filmed her leaving her home and walking her two dogs for around 40 minutes.
She held the lead of one of the dogs and walked unaided, with no obvious discomfort. Rogers later went into a shop and emerged holding a walking stick. She used it for a short distance, then lifted it off the ground and walked back home.
She said she was able to walk unaided on the Jeremy Kyle show because she was feeling “angry” which distracted her from the pain.
The insurance company engaged a consultant orthopedic surgeon to examine her case, who wrote that he was unable to explain her condition and concluded that it was either grossly exaggerated or due to an underlying psychological condition.
Rogers admitted one count of fraud at an earlier hearing and was sentenced to 12 months’ jail suspended for 18 months.
She was also ordered to pay back £500 in compensation to the insurance firm at a rate of £50 per month.
Detective Constable Carley Parodi, from the City of London Police’s Insurance Fraud Enforcement Department (IFED), said: "Rogers took advantage of a genuine car accident and, for almost a decade, kept up the pretence that it had a substantial effect on her life.
“There was a huge difference between Rogers’ ability to carry out her day-to-day activities in the surveillance footage and the serious impact of the accident as she described during her medical appointments.
"It was astounding that she told medical professionals she could not walk unaided, but then appeared on national television doing just that.
“Rogers thought she could convince medical professionals and the insurer using methods such as going to her medical appointments with a walking stick. The sentence handed down to her should serve as a reminder that, however clever you think you are being, committing insurance fraud will have repercussions.”
