Ideal fraud victim: 'I'll never trust a broker again'

Roger Price, victim of the Ideal Insurance fraud, today told of his disappointment at the broking profession after being fleeced by conmen Neil McKay and Faron Wilson.

Chorley-based Ideal Insurance directors Neil McKay and Faron Wilson were jailed for a total of 10 years and four months yesterday at Southwark Crown Court. They netted more than £1m through the fraud.

Price was one of the Ideal’s main victims, and they left him more than £100,000 in debt, after failing to pay his public liability claim at his restaurant near Chester.

Price said: “I’ll never trust an insurance broker again. I’ll never go through one again, I’ll go direct to a bank.

“I think justice has been done overall. I’m just glad it’s all over.”

Sylvia Rushbrooke, who faced a lengthy battle to get her insurance paid following a burglary at her home in Battersea, London, said: “I never met them in person. What they did was disgusting.

“It’s caused me so much stress.”

Working from their Chorley-based offices, McKay and Wilson conned customers and insurers of more than £1m by creating bogus insurance certificates, cancelling policies without telling the customer and skimming off the remaining premium payments, and pocketing customers' money without passing it on.

Judge Taylor yesterday said the fraud was driven out of greed and had multiple victims.