Gang jailed over ‘cash for crash’ death

By Arj Singh
Published on 16/02/2013 00:52

THE family of the victim of the first recorded fatal “cash-for-crash” accident said they will never recover after four Polish men were jailed over the attempted insurance scam.

Baljinder Kaur Gill, 34, died when her Ford Fiesta, which had been hit by one of the vehicles used by the gang to stage the £20,000 insurance scam, was hit again by a van “in an explosion of metal, glass and dust” as her car sat stationary in the fast lane of the A40 in Buckinghamshire.

Radoslaw Bielawski, Jacek Kowalczyk, Andrzez Skowron and Artur Okrutny were sentenced for the attempted fraud in which a Volkswagen Passat and an Audi A3 were to be crashed into a Ford Transit van in order to claim personal injury compensation.

The van driver managed to stop before hitting the Passat, but Miss Gill went into the back of the Transit.

Miss Gill, who was three days from her birthday, then had her car hit by another van, a Renault Trafic, as she reached back into the car to get some personal items. She died at the scene.

Passing sentence, judge Mr Justice Sweeney said: “It is clear that Miss Gill’s death has had, and continues to have an absolutely devastating effect on her family.”