FIRE ASSESSORS' FRAUD

Evening Post, Volume CXX, Issue 136, 5 December 1935, Page 31

FIRE ASSESSORS' FRAUD

TWO SENT TO PRISON

The trial of two Nottingham fire assessors accused of conspiring with Harry Gould and others to defraud insurance companies ended suddenly at the Old Bailey recently, says the "Daily Telegraph." Harry Davis Hayden, 45, of Nottingham, was sentenced to eighteen months' imprisonment, and Roland Alfred Relph, 40, of Nottingham, to fifteen months, both terms to be served in the second division on account, said the Common Sergeant (Mr. Cecil Whiteley, K.C.), of defendants' previous good character. As soon as the Court opened Sir Henry Curtis-Bennett, K.C., for Relph, intimated that both men desired to withdraw their plea of not guilty to the charge of conspiracy, and only to that charge, to which they now pleaded guilty. Mr. Montagu Lyons, K.C., for Hayden, concurred. The Common Sergeant directed the jury to find defendants guilty on the conspiracy cqu.nt. The other counts, he said, would remain on the file. Mr. Whiteley called before him Mrs. Sophia Harris, described as a salvage buyer, of. Stoke Newington, who had been mentioned in the case. She said she had been carrying on the business honestly. The Common Sergeant: I hope you are carrying it on in a different way from the years in which we have been investigating. You can consider yourself extremely lucky you are not standing in the dock with these men. ENORMOUS INVESTIGATIONS, Mr. Roland Oliver, K.C., for the prosecution, said the total involved in the indictment against Hayden and Relph was about £2000 or £3000. Both men had hitherto good characters. The fire conspiracy had been going on since 1920. Defendants had nothing to do with fire raising. He (counsel) was applying for costs. Investigations in • the case were enormous, and it had taken a year to prove these matters. Mr. Lyons said Hayden wished to express the most unqualified res morse. After a humble upbringing, he r began with an insurance company but 0 had to leave because of illness. He 1 did farm work until the outbreak of • war, when he joined the Warwick--3 shire Regiment, served overseas, was wounded, and invalided out of the Army. By diligence and ability he was t made a partner of Orton Smith and c Co. About the end of 1929 his wife ;t became gravely ill, dying early the i' following year. For two years Hayit den had lived in a state of very great n anxiety, knowing that at any moment r these charges might be preferred. Now s the life of anxiety and sham had been s ended. There was no monetary profit c to Hayden in these transactions and it i) was only through friends that he was legally represented. AWAITING OPERATION. n Sir Henry Curtis-Bennett said Relph was absolutely ruined. He had inaf - vested £ 6000—his own and his relatives' r e money—in this firm. It was due to Jt the kindness of friends that he was t_ legally represented. Relph was marj ried and had two children. He en--3' listed in August, 1914, when nineteen, s ' and was severely wounded. When he was discharged he went into this firm of insurance assessors. He had not the strength to stand up against what was ,g going on in the fire insurance world. Relph was a very sick man. At the s . time of his arrest he was awaiting an,g other operation. He was operated on eighteen months ago. A fortnight prejt viously he had been told by the doctor that the operation should be immediate, but he might wait to have this matter disposed of. The last two years since the fire conspiracy case had been a j ] a nightmare to both men.