Policewomen guilty of lying on insurance claim

Two policewomen were today found guilty of lying on car insurance documents to cut the cost of an excess payment following an off-duty crash.

A jury at Stafford Crown Court took 90 minutes to find former lovers Diane Reeves-Emery, 38, and Charlotte Eccles, 23, guilty of obtaining financial advantage by deception.

The women, employed by Derbyshire Constabulary, will be sentenced later today.

During a week-long trial the court heard that the former couple, who got together late in 2005, were both in Eccles' Renault Clio when it struck a kerb on April 25 2006, causing more than £3,000 damage.

They told insurers that Reeves-Emery had been at the wheel but Eccles later confessed she had been driving.

The court heard that naming Reeves-Emery as the driver cut the excess cost from £500 to £250, because of Eccles' youth and inexperience.

Eccles, who was a special constable at the time of the crash, claimed that Reeves-Emery lied to the insurance company and she went along with the claim because she was "petrified" of her.

Reeves-Emery denied being emotionally and physically abusive towards Eccles and maintained throughout the trial that she had been driving, telling jurors yesterday: "I've got no reason to lie."

The claim was made to Eccles' insurers, since Reeves-Emery was a named driver on the policy.

Reeves-Emery was found guilty of a second count of deception for not notifying her own insurers of the crash when she renewed her policy with them just days later.

She had told the court she did not properly read the form, which she had signed indicating she had not been involved in any crashes for 12 months.

Eccles received a six-month conditional discharge and was ordered to pay £1,500 costs.

Reeves-Emery, described by the judge as the "leading light" behind the deception, was fined £2,000 in addition to costs of £1,500.

Sentencing, Recorder David Jones told Reeves-Emery she had been "very dishonest". He said: "You were undoubtedly, in my view, the leading light in this.

"You sought to brazen it out with a series of lies."

He added: "I'm afraid I think you told a number of lies in this case, everyone was to blame except yourself."

The judge told her that her previous good character had helped to spare her from a custodial sentence but added: "As a serving police officer involved in two acts of dishonesty you couldn't really complain if you had gone to prison."

He told Eccles he believed she had been motivated by "misguided loyalty", adding: "It was a very foolish thing you did in going along with this story.

"I am satisfied you were gaining nothing from it. It is so much to your credit that when you were a police officer you couldn't live with that lie."

Reeves-Emery and Eccles met when they shared a shift in Swadlincote, Derbyshire.

Eccles, of Burton-on-Trent, Staffordshire, told the court she quickly fell for Reeves-Emery and left a long-term boyfriend and successful doughnut van business to be with her.

The couple married in a civil ceremony in August 2006, but split less than a year later.

Eccles told the court that the relationship quickly soured, claiming that Reeves-Emery, of Swadlincote, had problems with alcohol and depression.

Reeves-Emery denied that she was violent and emotionally controlling, telling jurors the state of the relationship was "very good" before the crash, but admitted that the split had been acrimonious.

In the aftermath of the break-up, Eccles accused Reeves-Emery of harassment and reported her to the professional standards department at Derbyshire Constabulary.

It was during a meeting about the alleged harassment that Eccles confessed to police that the couple had lied on the insurance documents.

She told the court she wanted to be "open and honest" and felt the deception "went against the grain of who I was as a person".

A spokesman for Derbyshire Constabulary said: "I can confirm that both officers are both currently suspended from duty.

"The force will reflect on the court's verdict and consider the need for disciplinary action."