Fraudster jailed for £160,000 in insurance scams with even his own family exploited
A fraudster has been jailed after he exploited his family in a series of insurance scams worth £160,000.
Justin Boydell, 51, a qualified loss adjuster, used the names of his wife and deceased father-in-law to launder the money under false claims.
Over a span of eight years, the 51-year-old used his ability to sign off insurance assessments to approve claims for made-up issues at properties he never visited.
He created fake invoices to support payouts to fictional contractors, before verifying the work and telling the insurance company to pay the invoices.
Boydell would then keep the items for himself – including a Rolex watch worth £9,350 – instead of selling them or returning them.
From September 2015 to July 2023, the 51-year-old accumulated over £160,000, which he used to pay his mortgage off, as well as paying into various savings and pension accounts.
Eyebrows were raised when his wife discovered a bank account set up in her maiden name without her permission, as well as a claim relating to her late father’s home.
It was then flagged to the Eastern Region Special Operations Unit (ERSOU), before further investigations with Norfolk Police officers revealed the scale of the fraud.
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Boydell has been jailed for four years and four months at Norwich Crown Court.
He had previously admitted to seven offences of fraud by false representation and one offence of transferring/converting/concealing criminal property.
In an emotional statement read to the court, his wife said: “My world came crashing down in 2023, when I opened a folder in Justin͛’s home office containing paperwork which were bank accounts opened in my name and his step-mother’s name without our knowledge and consent.
Boydell’s wife said that the fraud has impacted “not only me, but my family as a whole, we are all just shocked”.
“I still cannot understand why someone who cared for and said they loved me unconditionally would do such a cruel thing.
“I will never understand how my husband could inflict so much pain and hurt on both myself and my family using my late father͛s name, I feel like I have let them down.
“His actions have ruined the course of my life. It will take me a long time to get this back on track, I͛’m not sure I ever will,” she concluded.
The 51-year-old had been a senior loss adjuster at Criterion Adjusters, which worked on claims to Aviva and Home and Legacy.
During his eight years of scamming, he even wrote glowing reviews for himself from fake clients.
Boydell is “ashamed of how he has behaved”, Andrew Oliver, mitigating, said.
PC Victoria Church, who led the investigation, also said: “He showed no regard for family members by using their identities and went to great lengths to avoid detection, inventing a string of companies usually naming them after variations of his wife’s maiden name.”