The trial of 17 people accused of conspiracy to commit fraud in relation to allegedly staged bus crashes in the Chester area is due to begin on Monday (January 5, 2015).
Charges relate to seven collisions that took place in Chester and Wirral between 2010 and 2012 and involved more than 215 people making personal injury insurance claims for ‘whiplash′.
The trial, at Manchester Crown Court, is expected to last approximately six weeks.
Cheshire Police charged the 17 men and women, from Chester, Wirral, Frodsham and North Wales, in 2012 following a 20-month investigation.
The defendants are: Charlotte Watts, 28, from Fford Almer, Wrexham; Jamie Stokes, 22, from Gosmore Road, Mold; Rachel Cooper, 32, from Oxton Green, Great Sutton, Ellesmere Port; Daniel Shaw, 27, from Milton Road, Blacon, Chester; Dean Brown, 42, from Kings Crescent West, Chester; Mark Taylor, 48, from Vyner Park, Prenton; Luke McQuillan, 40, from Dyserth Road, Blacon; Mike Gentile, 45, from Hawthorn Road, Chester; Howard Taylor, 35, from Gladstone Road, Seaforth; David Clancy, 36, from Normanby Drive, Connah’s Quay; Sean Kettyle, 43,from Westminster Road, Ellesmere Port; Christopher Bethell, 29, from Crosthwaite Avenue, Eastham, Wirral, Barry Cooper, 35, from Hall Lane, Connah’s Quay; Richard Flynn, 48, from Church Street, Connah’s Quay; John Smith, 41, from Grasmere Close, Connah’s Quay; Jason Power, 31, from Pulford Road, Chester and Andrew Shaw, 57, from Ashton Drive, Frodsham.
