A man who conspired with a group of "very dangerous people" to defraud the Guardian PMPA insurance company by faking an accident on the M50 near Lucan has been remanded on bail by Dublin Circuit Criminal Court for sentence on October 29th.
Alan Nolan (42), of Ellensborough, Tallaght, was remanded by Judge Yvonne Murphy to allow payment of €5,044 in compensation by that date. The money to be paid is in addition to €1,500 he handed in to court.
Nolan had pleaded guilty to falsely obtaining money from Guardian PMPA by staging an accident in 1994 at the M50 near Lucan, Co Dublin.
Garda Kevin Gately told Mr George Birmingham SC, prosecuting, that on foot of the alleged accident, which is said to have involved a three-car pile-up, Nolan put in a claim for £5,153 (€6,543) to the insurance company for personal injuries suffered during the pile-up.
Garda Gately said the "accident" involved three vehicles, a Mercedes, a Peugeot and a Rover. Nolan was driving the Rover and was carrying a passenger when the alleged accident happened. When the pile-up happened, he claimed, he suffered knee and back injuries.
Garda Gately said Nolan's co-conspirators - Michael Byrne (39), of Prucklish, Newtownforbes, and Michael Daly (31), of Longridge, Carbury, Co Kildare - have both been jailed by Dublin Circuit Criminal Court for their roles in the fraud after a lengthy trial in November 2002.
Judge Murphy jailed Byrne, a director of Michael Byrne Motors of Longford, for six years with three suspended, and Daly for 12 months. Byrne's sentence was later adjusted to five years by the Court of Criminal Appeal.
Garda Gately agreed with Mr Birmingham that Byrne was the principal figure in the fraud.
He said a major Garda investigation into the scheme was begun after Nolan admitted to gardaí following his arrest in October 1996 that the accident had been staged. He confessed to the offence and his role in it, but refused to give further information on the fraudulent activities.
Nolan told gardaí he had become "mixed up with the wrong people" and he regretted the role he had played. He was, he told gardaí, too afraid for his young family to give them any more information.
Garda Gately agreed that Nolan was right to describe others involved as dangerous people and said investigations were continuing and that several more people had to be brought to justice.
Judge Murphy told Nolan's counsel, Mr Damien Colgan, it was not satisfactory that Nolan had not come up with the money already, considering that the accident happened in 1994.