Industry News from Yes Insurance

A teenager in Barnes, West London, told police that she had been robbed at gunpoint in order to make a false claim on her home insurance.

The 17-year-old girl told police that as she walked home at 4am on Friday 22nd September, two young men held a gun to her head and took her bag.

But as cracks appeared in her story, the girl confessed that she had invented the tale with her mother in order to obtain a crime reference number and make a home insurance claim.

She had been told a few months earlier that she could not claim on the loss of £1,125 worth of property without a crime number.

Police gave the girl an £80 on-the-spot fine, but warned future offenders would be prosecuted.

Detective Inspector Cranwell, working on the case, said: "False reports impact on police resources, raise the fear of crime and… can divert officers away from genuine reports of robbery".

Superintendent Jim David added: "We will investigate and prosecute without hesitation, those who we suspect of making false allegations."

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