Fraudster tried to use forged police letter to scam more than £75,000 from insurance companies for fake missed flights

A fraudster tried to con more than £75,000 from insurance companies by claiming he had missed several flights from Manchester Airport, a court has heard. Joshua Moorcroft used the identities of people he knew to make the bogus travel insurance claim, including forging a police letter to claim he had been involved in a car crash which made him miss a flight.

The 27-year-old, from Liverpool, made 15 claims with six different companies for missed or cancelled travel using excuses such as injury or Covid-19 disruption. It started in October 2019 when he took out a multi-trip worldwide travel insurance police with Aviva and within nine days submitted a claim that he had missed a flight from Manchester to New York. Moorcroft claimed he had been in a taxi which broke down due to an exploded tyre.

Two months later he alleged that he missed a flight from Manchester to Qatar as he'd been involved in a crash on his way to the airport. To back up this claim, he sent a screenshot of an email which was supposedly from a police officer who attended the scene.

READ MORE:Search teams trawl River Irwell near spot where missing fire service watch manager was last seen

Moorcroft made three more claims in February 2020 for missed trips he claimed was due to having surgery on his hand. He provided a number of documents to support this, including documents from the travel company and his local hospital.

The insurance company enquired about the Dubai booking, and were told there was no record of this. Moorcroft could not provide an explanation to this, Liverpool Crown Court heard.

This information prompted the insurer to look into the earlier claims for missed flights. The police force, which had supposedly attended the scene of the accident,