Council's Award-Winning Insurance Boss Swindled Dormant Claims

Andrew Rooke leaving court with his wife

An award-winning insurance fraud manager with Bromley council, who swindled £46,000 out of the local authority, was caught after his wife took revenge by reporting him to bosses after she discovered he was enjoying an affair.

Andrew Rooke, 48, reopened closed claims against the council for personal injury or property damage on three occasions and diverted the pay-outs into his mother's and his father-in-law's bank accounts.

"The investigation was initiated by your wife, who was aggrieved by your affair, and others in the course of the investigation have come under suspicion and you have brought the council into disrepute," the Recorder of Croydon Warwick McKinnon told him on Monday.

Rooke, of North Road, Bexhill-on-Sea, East Sussex pleaded guilty to three counts of fraud by false representation and was sentenced to sixteen months imprisonment, suspended for two years, and was ordered to perform 200 hours community service work.

Croydon Crown Court heard between June 18, 2010 and May 16, last year the Birmingham-born defendant, employed as an insurance and risk manager, defrauded sums of £8,450, £23,00 and £14,500.

He is a two-time winner of a national award for asset protection risk management - granted in 2006 and 2011 by ALARM, the Public Risk Management Association and the BBC reported on his fraud crackdown.

Prosecutor Miss Shahnaz Ahmed told the court: "His day to day job involved advising on how to limit fraud within the council, train staff, process insurance claims and asses risk.

"He reopened claims that had been closed and the first involved a tree that had caused damage to property and had been rejected.

"He re-opened it using an ex-employee's name and involved two other members of staff who counter-signed the claim and he received the cheque into his mother's account.

Two other re-opened claims were for personal injury and both pay-outs were credited to Rooke's father-in-law's bank account.

"The defendant's wife telephoned the council and said he was having an affair and asked them to check why she and her husband had enjoyed a free holiday."

A four-month investigation, costing £20,000 and involving the Greenwich Fraud Team, resulted in Rooke's arrest and other staff coming under suspicion.

Rooke immediately repaid the final £14,500 he defrauded and re-mortgaged the family home to pay the remainder.

"Both Mr and Mrs Rooke are on medication for depression," said Mr. Derek Barry, defending. "He has made terrible mistakes and it has cost him his career with Bromley council.

"In all other areas of his life he is a caring, sharing, family man."

Judge McKinnon announced: "It was his wife who blew the whistle because he was having an affair," before telling father-of-three Rooke: "It is an extremely serious case.

"You were a trusted employee in a relatively senior position, processing insurance claims with the power to accept or reject them and reopen closed claims.

"You reopened three claims and redirected the money to you and others to ultimately it would come back to you."