Matthew Hughes, 26, a football player from Pontlottyn was handed out a two weeks jail sentence for trying to take the court for a ride, falsely claiming he injured his leg tripping over a pavement pothole near his home. In what could be a land mark judgment, Swansea Civil Justice Centre held Hughes and friends Jamie Verity, 24 and Christian Rowlands, 36, guilty of contempt of court. Each of Hughes' friends was fined a 1,500. Matthew Hughes, who plays for Pontlottyn Blast Furnace, was first discovered guilty by council investigators when he was caught for scoring a goal for his team under two hours after he 'broke' his knee. The photograph showing him kneeling on his match fit knee before the match in a line up was also produced defense in the court. Earlier, Hughes had claimed he had to stop playing the game he enjoyed playing following his injury. The court heard that he injured himself playing foot ball later, although on the same day. Denying the charges of contempt of court, the three of them claimed Matthews Hughes had injured his knee just before the match but still played on in view of the larger interest of his team - Pontlottyn Blast Furnace. Hughes' claim was "a pack of lies", William Audland, told the court appearing for the county council. "He decided to invent an accident to claim money from the council," he said. Statements of his two friends not withstanding and taking cognizance of the evidence that he had played foot ball, the judge however ruled that the threesome were guilty of lying and that Hughes did not have to stop playing foot ball at all. The court ruled that it was 'beyond doubt' that the claim for compensation was fraudulent. Speaking for the council, Caerphilly County Borough, its spokesman said "Our definition of success is not limited to defeating a fraudulent claim but successfully perusing the fraudster through the court and making him or her pay dearly." In addition to serving two weeks sentence in jail, the court heard that Hughes will pay up a huge sum of 33,000 which also includes a comprehensive 22,000 to compensate for the council's prosecution and related proceedings costs. Caerphilly County Council stated in its estimate that it found somewhere up to 90% of all personal injury compensation petitions were fraudulent and that it costed Welsh authorities a mind boggling 13 million each year. It is said that the fraudulent claims account for about 63% of the overall cost of highway maintenance. However, it is noteworthy that the jail sentence in a personal injury claim case handed out to Mathew Hughes is the first of its kind in UK. The effect of this is can already be seen as claims for compensation being received by Caerphilly County Borough Council reducing by half. The county puts the figure at, 600 claims for compensations from an astounding 1,300 when they began investigating claims. Mathew Hughes, who lives on a 150 a week with his girl friend, was found repenting for his fictitious claim. Not only will he rue his mistakes in jail, which he is sentenced to, but he will be poorer by 25,000. Spokesman for the Claims Standards Council, Andy Wigmore disclosed that he had been told about the touts in casualty departments of Welsh hospitals, pursuing people to claim compensations for their accidents in exchange for 300. High Court Judge Mr. Justice Stephen Silber, sentencing Hughes said it could have been longer but for his insufficient intellect to realize the seriousness and the past good character. A law student in the court room later reacted "This is a victory for the people of UK." He said "With average successful claim standing anywhere between 20,000 and 250,000, I would not be surprised if authorities take it strongly to personal injury claims. We can soon see the dedicated money being freed for its true cause". |
