Man jailed for fraud after faking road traffic incidents

A 36-year-old man has been jailed for almost three years after defrauding his victims of hundreds of pounds.

Simon McDonagh, of Naas Lane, Brookthorpe, was pleaded guilty to 17 fraud offences, comprising of 11 counts of fraud and six counts of fraudulently using a vehicle registration. He was sentenced during a hearing at Bristol Crown Court Court on Friday 20 March.

The offences happened between 24 March and 5 June last year in the Kingswood, Staplehill, Speedwell and Soundwell areas.

The court heard how McDonagh targeted 11 different vulnerable victims, ranging from a student through to men in their eighties.

McDonagh would target vehicles as they drove around Bristol and South Gloucestershire. The court was told how each victim heard a noise, making them believe they may have hit something. McDonagh would then indicate to the victim’s vehicle to pull over and tell them they had caused damage to his wing mirror.

McDonagh would then suggest to the victim, to avoid going through insurance and impacting on the victim’s no claims bonus, to instead suggest he would follow the victim to a cashpoint or bank to receive the money for the repair in cash. When some were unable to provide cash, he asked them to transfer through PayPal.

On every occasion, he used a vehicle on false plates for the crime.

Through this method, McDonagh had made more than £5,500 across all his victims, the most significant being £1,495 he took from a man in his seventies who he accompanied to his bank. Then the victim gave the offender £995, he demanded a further £500 and sent him back to his bank to withdraw the rest.

McDonagh was jailed for two years and eight months and was given a driving ban of more than three years.

Officer in the case, PC Kayleigh Hole, said: “While the amounts in this case were not tens or hundreds of thousands of pounds, each amount was significant to each and every one of the victims.

“The courage, strength and patience each victim has shown throughout this investigation has been incredible and they have each played a key role in supporting us to bring this case before a judge and stopping McDonagh from targeting further victims.

“We hope that this encourages others to recognise and report any signs of fraud. Suspicious behaviour may include someone urging you to avoid formal processes – such as going through your insurer – providing false or incomplete details, or requesting cash payments without issuing an invoice. These are just some of the signs to watch out for.”