A Scottish insurance broker will be sentenced today for fraudulently selling £11m of bogus cover, leaving 43,000 people with worthless policies. John Kirke Walker, 57, from Midlothian, who ran Tribune Risk and Insurance Services in Eskbank, on the outskirts of Edinburgh, claimed approved firms were underwriting his policies when they were not doing so.
The business, which employed more than 100 people at the height of its success, had been hit badly by the terror attacks on September 11 2001, leading to the two-year scam. Walker’s actions meant that when some customers came to make claims, they were left with no insurance and had to find money for hefty bills.
Edinburgh Sheriff Court heard that Walker pocketed £550,000 over two years to fund various “family benefits”.
At an earlier hearing, Walker admitted fraud to the tune of just over £10.9m, while his wife and son had their pleas of not guilty accepted by the crown.
In June, a sheriff sent the case to the High Court because he believed the five-year maximum jail sentence he could impose was not tough enough to punish Walker for his multimillion pound scam.
Sheriff Kenneth MacIver told Walker that this was one of the largest fraud cases ever dealt with by any court in Scotland. Walker is due to be sentenced by Lord Carloway at the High Court in Edinburgh./AP
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