A man who submitted a number of fake home insurance claims to RSA Insurance for the second time has been jailed.

Joel Mtebe, 37, of Darwen Fold Close, Chorley, was first sentenced in 2017 after making 15 fraudulent claims on home insurance policies underwritten by RSA.

Between March 2019 and February 2022, he took out six further home insurance policies underwritten by RSA using fictitious identities and made 15 fake claims against them.

Nine of the claims were successful and resulted in him receiving payments worth a total of £11,750.

However, RSA linked Mtebe to four of the six policies and referred the case to the City of London Police's Insurance Fraud Enforcement Department (IFED) for investigation.

Mtebe pleaded guilty at Preston Magistrates Court on April 25 to eight counts of fraud by false representation.

He was sentenced at Liverpool Crown Court on August 20 to 20 months imprisonment and must also pay a £140 victim surcharge.

Detective constable Dan Weller said: "Mtebe concocted a series of stories, which ranged from him falling over and dropping his phone down a drain to a child smashing a toy into his TV screen, all for the purpose of making a quick gain.

"Claims like these push up the cost of insurance premiums for everyone else, which means that honest customers end up paying the price."

Mtebe took out a home insurance policy under the name Thomas Bass in January 2020.

In March, he reported the loss of a backpack, but the claim was declined.

He made further claims for a damaged television and a lost iPhone, which were settled for a total of £2,793.

In March 2020, Mtebe took out a policy as James Thurnburrow and received a payout of £3,198 after submitting a claim for a lost camera.

Further claims for a phone that was lost down a drain and a damaged TV were rejected.

A third insurance policy was taken out in August 2020 under the name Steve Mason and in October, a claim for a lost backpack was made against it.

(Image: City of London Police)

RSA identified errors in the documents that were submitted to support the claim and it was rejected.

Mtebe then took out an insurance policy under the name Matthew Hamilton in December 2020.

He registered a claim for the loss of an Apple Mac Mini computer, but suspicions were raised at RSA after a claims handler noted that the invoice submitted to support the claim had been edited.

After further investigation, RSA linked all four insurance policies to Mtebe and the case was referred to IFED in September 2021.

In March 2022, IFED officers arrested Mtebe and executed a search warrant at his home address.

Evidence found on Mtebe's laptop, which was seized by officers during the warrant, linked him to two of the policies.

Mtebe admitted during his police interview that he had made the fake claims.

He stated that another man known as "Matt" set up the insurance policies and gave him the details of what to claim for.

Adele Sumner, head of counter fraud strategy and financial crime at RSA Insurance, said: “Joel Mtebe has proved himself to be a determined fraudster, driven by greed and personal gain.

"His persistent offences showed a huge lack of respect to our honest customers and he wrongly viewed RSA as an easy target.

"In order to try and protect customers, we constantly invest in fraud detection tools and technologies, which enabled us to identify Mr Mtebe’s false identities and dishonest claims."

She added: “We would like to thank IFED for their efforts in this case and his previous criminal conviction in 2017.

"He’s proven himself to be a persistent re-offender, over several years and we hope this sentence of 20 months imprisonment handed down in August 2024 will protect, not only our customers, but also other insurers from his dishonest behaviour.”