A gang who stole £1 million from insurers in one of the country’s biggest commercial property fraud cases has been jailed.

Nyron Hughes, 35, and Tarquinn Orgill, 34, both of Cherrydown Avenue, Chingford, were among five men who targeted 14 insurers across the UK during their four-year campaign.

The organised crime group were jailed for a total of 14 years on Thursday, November 8, at Inner London Crown Court following an investigation by the City of London Police’s insurance fraud enforcement department (IFED).

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Tarquinn Orgill

IFED said the fraud was on a scale that it had never before been dealt with within the unit or seen in the wider insurance industry.

The department first became aware of the gang when they received a referral from insurers Zurich who were suspicious of a claim they received for property damage and business interruption at a wine bar in Sleaford, Lincolnshire, caused by a burst water pipe.

Upon examination, Zurich established that the bar didn’t hold an alcohol licence and wasn’t open for trade prior to the claim.

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Nyron Hughes

Several members of the gang were identified by their fingerprints through a forensic examination at the wine bar in Lincolnshire.

After leasing properties using shell companies, the gang would incept commercial property policies, each with a different insurer, and then make a fraudulent claim on each policy.

In total, 15 of the policies were subject to successful claims and £944,206 was paid out. This money was then laundered through various bank accounts held by members of the gang and eventually withdrawn in cash.

In addition to the money that they stole from insurers, Hughes, Bhatti and Hayles also pleaded guilty to defrauding American Express to the value of £62,497.

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Kashif Bhatti

City of London Police’s Detective Constable Daniel Dankoff, who led the investigation for IFED, said: “The organised crime group used a complex set of tactics to try and remain undetected and defraud numerous members of the insurance and banking industries for several years – which shows that the bigger the lie, the more the insurance industry may believe.”

All five members of the OCG were jailed for a mix of conspiracy to defraud and money laundering offences.

Hughes was jailed for four years and Orgill was handed a five year sentence.

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Ramone Carty

Kashif Bhatti, 35, of Wightman Road, Harringay, was sentenced to two years in prison while Ramone Carty, 36, of Janson Close, Neasden, was sentenced to three years.

Jurelle Hayles, 30, of Huntingdon Road, Edmonton, was sentenced to 20 months in prison, suspended for two years and 300 hours unpaid work.

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Property damage at one of the gang's chosen sites

Confiscation proceedings will now be started under the Proceeds of Crime Act to recover any criminal benefit gained from the gang’s fraudulent activity.