Four men have been jailed for their involvement in the first recorded fatal 'crash-for-cash' accident, which claimed the life of an innocent motorist on the A40 in Buckinghamshire. Baljinder Kaur Gill, 34, died when her Ford Fiesta was struck by a van after being hit by one of the vehicles used in the staged insurance scam.
The gang, comprising Radoslaw Bielawski, 24, Jacek Kowalczyk, 32, Andrzez Skowron, 25, and Artur Okrutny, 23, all from London, attempted to defraud insurers of £20,000 by causing a collision between a Volkswagen Passat and an Audi A3 with an innocent Ford Transit van. However, the van driver managed to stop, and Gill's car rear-ended him.
As Gill was retrieving personal items from her stationary car in the fast lane on 11 June 2011, a Renault Trafic van driven by Colin Lee, 34, crashed into her vehicle, causing fatal injuries. Lee, who was not part of the conspiracy, was jailed for 12 months for causing death by careless driving after being cleared of a more serious charge.
Judge Mr Justice Sweeney, passing sentence at Reading Crown Court, noted that such scams cost insurers £392m annually. He said: 'This is the first such enterprise to result in a death to come before the courts.' Bielawski and Kowalczyk each received 10 years and three months, Skowron got 10 years, and Okrutny, who was paid £300 to participate, was jailed for 12 months.
In a statement, Gill's family described her as 'the innocent victim of a cold-blooded and calculated incident,' adding that their 'lives changed forever' following the crash near Denham, on the western edge of London.
