Brothers staged car crash in ‘abhorrent’ attempt to rip off insurance body

Two brothers have been jailed for trying to “rip off” the Motor Insurance Bureau of Ireland (MIBI) by staging a road traffic collision.

Les Markham (29), of Friary Court, Askeaton, Co Limerick, was described as “the brains” behind the staged crash on October 6th, 2017, and received a two year sentence with the final 12 months suspended.

His brother, Ronnie (24), also known as Ronnie Dearman, of Rose Court, Keyes Park, Southill, was sentenced to 18 months, with the final nine months suspended.

Sending out a “crystal clear” message that insurance fraud will not be tolerated, Judge Tom O’Donnell said those involved must “accept the consequences of their actions”.

He said motorists were “hard pressed enough to obtain motor insurance without the two accused attempting to rip off the system”. He said he had “no doubt the court of public opinion” would find the brothers actions “abhorrent”.

The court heard Markham purchased a Honda Civic online and given the keys to his brother, who was “a willing participant”, and asked him to rear-end a Volkswagen Passat.

Markham was one of four people in the Passat when it was rear-ended by Dearman at Derrybeg Cross, Rosbrien, Limerick on October 6th, 2017. The other occupants of the Passat had known nothing of their plot.

DNA

Dearman fled the scene on foot and was later arrested by gardaí after they found his traces of his DNA on the driver’s airbag in the Honda Civic, which had deployed in the collision.

Markham and the others in the Passat were treated by paramedics and taken by ambulance to University Hospital Limerick. All four lodged MIBI compensation claims but the court heard no monies were paid out.

Prosecuting counsel John O’Sullivan SC told a preliminary sentencing hearing last week that gardaí had suspected “there was a smell attached to the whole thing” from the off.

Markham pleaded guilty to attempting to make gain through inducing by deception the MIBI to pay a financial settlement arising out of a staged road traffic collision.

Under cross examination from Markham’s barrister, a garda witness said he was not aware that the accused had at the time owed a considerable drugs debt, and that a pipebomb was found outside his home in 2017.

Previous convictions

The brothers had 84 previous convictions between them, for minor drugs offences, road traffic matters and theft, but none involving deception.

They had drug addiction issues at the time, the court heard. Markham once had a very promising” jockey career which was “thwarted by illness”, the judge said. The court heard Dearman is also a skilled horseman.

Dearman had been “at a low ebb and out of control” because of his drug addiction, but has a talent for teaching young people how to ride, and “is contributing to society with his horse skills,” the judge noted.

Following his arrest, Dearman asked gardaí if it had been “the DNA or the fingerprints that caught me?”