A MAN HAS been jailed for his role in a fraudulent insurance claim worth more than €35,000 following the staging of a car crash in south Dublin 11 years ago.

Thomas O’Neill (47), Ann Wilson (44) and Deirdre Mellor (54) appeared at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court today at a sentencing hearing relating to the claim surrounding the two-vehicle collision, which took place in Rathfarnham in 2013.

O’Neill, of Glenmore Green, Ballyboden, Dublin 16, pleaded guilty to one count of deception.

Imposing sentence, Judge Martin Nolan said O’Neill was an active participant in the fraud and handed him a two-year jail-term for his role in the incident.

The charges relating to Wilson, O’Neill’s partner, occurred between 1 February 2013 and 15 July 2014.

The court heard a Circuit Civil Court case was taken for personal injuries where Wilson, of Ledwill Park, Kilcock, Co.Kildare, received €21,595 for herself and €14,000 in respect of her son. Judge Martin Nolan will sentence her on Wednesday.

O’Neill’s sister, Mellor, of Park na Greine, Tallaght, Dublin 24, was a passenger in the other car. She pleaded guilty to attempted deception and received a suspended two-year prison sentence. She did not proceed with a claim as it was statute-barred.

The court heard AXA Insurance conducted an investigation and established from social media that the parties in both cars knew each other.

Detective Garda Kevin Bowen told Edward Doocey BL, prosecuting, that the offences arose from a staged road traffic incident at the Ballycullen Roundabout, Woodstown, when a white Toyota was rear-ended by a Mazda on 4 February 2013. There were no injuries at the time and the accident was not reported to gardaí.

Mellor was the passenger in the Toyota, the court heard. Wilson was driving the other car in which her partner O’Neill was an occupant, when both cars were involved in a low velocity impact.

The cars were examined by an independent company on behalf of AXA Insurance on May 27, 2013 and the insurance firm also got a tip-off by phone call, telling them not to proceed with the claims.

The court heard that Ann Mellor received personal injuries of €21,595 and a further €550 for material damages. Her son received €14,000. O’Neill made no claim and Mellor made a claim but it was not proceeded with.

O’Neill reported to gardai that he was a passenger in a car that was rear-ended. It emerged that Mellor, his sister, was in the other car.

When asked if he knew his sister was in the other car, O’Neill he said he only became aware on going to the Garda station.

Mellor gave a statement saying she saw a female in the other car but that she had not met her before. It transpired she was her brother’s partner and the mother of her nephew.

When AXA investigated the claim there was evidence on social media that they were all connected to each other. AXA later made a complaint to gardai.

O’Neill has 70 previous convictions including road traffic offences and handling stolen property. Wilson has four previous convictions for road traffic offences. Mellor has one previous conviction for driving without insurance.

There were Facebook leads linking all the parties when AXA insurance investigated the claim. Judge Nolan asked Detective Garda Bowen what happened the money. Wilson told gardaí she kept the money and none was ever recovered.

Under cross-examination, the garda agreed with Stephen Montgomery BL, defending Mellor, that she was a passenger in the Toyota.

He agreed that she was a vulnerable person and that she had only started the claim process but didn’t proceed with it as time had run out.

Det Gda Bowen said there was no personal gain for Mellor and there was no evidence of a lavish lifestyle.

The garda also agreed with Sean O’Quigley BL, defending O’Neill, that he was not on the garda radar and his previous offences were for some minor road traffic offences and “nothing of this seriousness”.

It was further accepted that O’Neill was not “the brains behind this operation” and in a number of calls to gardai about the case, O’Neill wasn’t mentioned.

In mitigation for Wilson, the court heard she had significant personal difficulties and that her teenage son was paralysed from the waist down in a separate road traffic accident. She also has another child with health difficulties.

The mother-of-five was not someone of significant wealth and her previous convictions were very minor, the court heard.

Judge Nolan said Mellor made false and misleading statements, adding that he was not going to impose a custodial term and handed her a two-year suspended sentence.