GUILTY PLEA | 

Sentencing of woman who received €35k for staged crash adjourned amid inquiries into ‘financial situation’

Ann Wilson (44) of Ledwill Park, Kilcock, Co Kildare, appeared at Dublin Circuit Court in connection with a rear-ending incident

Today at 11:40

The sentencing of a woman who received over €35,000 in compensation for her and her son following a staged car crash has been adjourned after the prosecution said it needed to make inquiries about her “true financial situation”.

Ann Wilson (44) of Ledwill Park, Kilcock, Co Kildare, appeared at Dublin Circuit Court in connection with a rear-ending incident that happened at Woodstown roundabout in Ballycullen, Tallaght on February 1, 2013.

She pleaded guilty to one count of deception after she had sued Axa Insurance for personal injuries following the incident.

Wilson was awarded damages of €21,595 by the Personal Injuries Assessment Board. She also sued on behalf of her son, who was a juvenile at the time. He received €14,000. She also got €550 for the damage to the car.

Wilson’s partner, Thomas O’Neill (47) of Glenmore Green in Ballyboden, Dublin, also pleaded guilty to deception after bringing a failed personal injury claim following the collision. He was sentenced to two years in jail on Monday.

Judge Martin Nolan said he needed time to consider the appropriate sentence for Wilson and had been due to give his decision today.

Judge Nolan granted an adjournment until next month.

The court previously heard how O’Neill, Wilson and their son were travelling in a Mazda car which was rear ended by a Toyota Celica when approaching a roundabout. Wilson was driving the car.

O’Neill’s sister, Deirdre Mellor, was a passenger in the Toyota. She pleaded guilty to attempted deception after she initiated a personal injury claim but did not proceed with it. Judge Nolan handed her down a two-year suspended sentence.

Both Mellor and Wilson claimed they did not recognise each other when the accident happened.

Axa conducted its own investigations and discovered that the passengers in both cars were connected on Facebook and knew each other.

The company refused to settle O’Neill’s personal injury claim and the case proceeded to the Circuit Civil Court in 2018.

Under cross examination, it emerged that O’Neill was related to Mellor. He was asked if he knew his sister was in the other car. He responded to say he only realised this when he went to the garda station to report the accident.

He subsequently withdrew his claim and Colm Featherstone, Axa’s fraud investigations manager, made a formal complaint to gardaí.

The court heard O’Neill has 70 previous convictions including 17 for no insurance, four for dangerous driving and a series of other minor road traffic offences.

He also has a previous conviction for possession of drugs.