R Accident Exchange Ltd v Nathan John George Broom and Others
| Jurisdiction | England & Wales |
| Judge | Mr Justice Supperstone |
| Judgment Date | 16 June 2017 |
| Neutral Citation | [2017] EWHC 1530 (Admin) |
| Date | 16 June 2017 |
| Court | Queen's Bench Division (Administrative Court) |
| Docket Number | CO/12739/2011 |
[2017] EWHC 1530 (Admin)
IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUSTICE
QUEEN'S BENCH DIVISION
THE ADMINISTRATIVE COURT
Royal Courts of Justice
Strand
London WC2A 2LL
Mr Justice Supperstone
CO/12739/2011
Mr John Charles Rees QC and Mr Guy Vickers (instructed by DLA Piper) appeared on behalf of the Claimant
Mr Craig Barlow (instructed by Norton Peskett) appeared on behalf of the First Defendant
Miss Alison Padfield (instructed by Fleet Solicitors) appeared on behalf of the Second Defendant
Mr David Flood (instructed by Canter, Levin & Berg) appeared on behalf of the Third Defendant
Mr Peter Gilmour (instructed by Platt Halpern Solicitors, Manchester) appeared on behalf of the Fourth Defendant
Mr Michael Coley (instructed by Knights Solicitors, Oxford) appeared on behalf of the Fifth Defendant
Mr David Giles (instructed by Norton Peskett) appeared on behalf of the Sixth Defendant
Miss Gemma Witherington (instructed by Burton & Co) appeared on behalf of the Seventh Defendant
The court is concerned today with the sentencing of seven Defendants who have been found to be in contempt of court. The facts of the case are set out in detail in the judgment that I handed down on 24 May 2017 ( [2017] EWHC 1096 (Admin)) following an eight-week trial. In summary, Accident Exchange Limited (whom I shall refer to as "AE") applied to commit the Defendants on the grounds that each of them engaged in conduct which interfered with the due administration of justice, and they were thereby in contempt of court.
The main business of AE was the hire of cars to victims of road traffic accidents. The Defendants were employed by a company known as Autofocus Limited (whom I shall refer to as "AF"). AF gave evidence as experts on behalf of defendant insurers seeking to reduce claims for the hire of replacement cars. AE claimed that the dishonest evidence of AF has resulted in thousands of cases across the entirety of the UK being contaminated, and countless first instance courts being routinely deceived as to the honesty of the evidence deployed. Overall, there may have been in the region of 30,000 cases tried and settled. Granting permission, the Divisional Court observed that, if these allegations were made out, this would be perjury on an industrial scale.
I concluded that the evidence that AF was involved in the systematic, endemic fabrication of evidence, in which the Defendants and each of them knowingly and actively participated throughout the material time, is overwhelming. I accepted that the cases listed in the schedule to the claim form represent only an indicative sample of the cases in which the Defendants have committed contempt of court and/or perjured themselves.
The dishonest actions of AF and the Defendants had serious implications, not only for the value of the shares of AE, owned both by individuals and institutional investors such as pension companies, which led to the loss of very substantial sums, but also for 300 employees of AE who were made redundant.
Before turning to consider the role of the individual Defendants, it is to be noted that, with the exception of Elaine Walker (the Second Defendant), the individuals who on AE's case were the main perpetrators of this very serious perversion of the course of justice are not before this court. Mr John Rees QC, on behalf of the Claimant, submitted in his closing submissions that the main perpetrators were Colin McLean, Suzy Forrest, Elaine Walker and Paul Wilcox, Chairman, Managing Director and directors of AF respectively, together with Stuart McLean, training officer and brother of Colin McLean.
There are currently proceedings in the Commercial Court brought by AE against Colin McLean, Suzy Forrest and other Defendants, including three firms of solicitors, for a sum in excess of £126 million, alleging that on dates between 2005 and July 2010 the Defendants conspired together with the intention to injure or cause financial loss to those businesses operating in the credit car hire industry, including AE, by "creating producing and deploying false and misleading expert and/or witness evidence against AE (and other members of that industry) at trial and/or for the purpose of settlement negotiations". Although (with the exception of Ms Walker) it was not these Defendants who ran and controlled AF and who were mainly responsible for the dishonest actions of AF, they as team leaders and rates surveyors were willing participants therein.
The roles of the Defendants in these proceedings were as follows. Ms Walker, the Second Defendant, commenced employment with AF in November 2005 as a rates surveyor. She was made a director on 1 November 2006. She resigned her directorship and employment on 20 September 2009. She and Mr Wilcox were the two Operational Directors. It is clear from the evidence that she was heavily involved in the day-to-day business of AF. She produced the CSR manual which instructed rates surveyors to compile their witness statements in a way that made those statements dishonest if adhered to. She conducted mock trials with Stuart McLean in which rates surveyors were instructed to lie and were improperly coached as to what to say in court; and the evidence shows that she played a major role in changing in significant ways witness statements of rates surveyors and expert reports based upon spot hire surveys of rates surveyors.
Shortly before the commencement of the trial, the Second Defendant admitted the allegations made against her, that in two cases she verified documents for use by signing them with statements of truth when they were false to her knowledge or she did not believe them to be true. I ruled that she would be sentenced on the basis of the factual matrix as the court found it to be. The findings I have made in her case are set out at paragraphs 74 to 85 of the judgment.
Nathan Broom, the First Defendant, and Duncan Sadler, the Seventh Defendant, were team leaders. Mr Broom commenced employment with AF on 14 March 2005. He resigned on 17 September 2009. He was employed as a team leader and rates surveyor. The Third, Fourth and Sixth Defendants were in his team. He played a major role in (1) changing in significant ways witness statements of rates surveyors in his team (and others), and expert reports based upon their spot hire surveys; and (2) allowing witness statements of rates surveyors in his team (and others), and expert reports based upon their spot hire surveys, to be changed before being issued for service upon the court and the Claimant in the proceedings.
During the course of the hearing, after the conclusion of the evidence of Mr Stephen Evans (the Claimant's Chief Executive), the First Defendant admitted allegations that in one case he made a false witness statement and gave false evidence at trial. The facts of that case are set out at paragraphs 63 to 71 of the judgment.
Mr Sadler started work for AF in August 2007 as a consultant, becoming a full-time employee in about July 2008. He was employed as a team leader and rates surveyor. He referred to himself as Field Operations Manager. He was involved in the recruitment and dismissal of staff. Further, he took a leading role in the development of DRS reports, which were introduced for a short while following the undermining of CSR reports in September 2009. The DRS reports were also false (see paragraph 58 of the judgment). I found that all the allegations made against Mr Sadler had been proved. They consist of the making of false statements in eight cases, and the giving of false evidence at trial in one of those cases. The findings I made in relation to those cases are set out at paragraphs 284 to 321 of the judgment.
The remaining Defendants were rates surveyors. Andrew Watts, the Third Defendant, commenced his employment with AF on 7 April 2008. He was a rates surveyor in the First Defendant's team. Although not a team leader himself, by 2009 he was sufficiently well thought of to be given the task of checking and changing in significant ways other rates surveyors' reports, in which he was heavily involved. He resigned on 17 September 2009. Mr Watts gave evidence. He denied that he was guilty of contempt. However, during the course of his cross-examination he decided to admit that he was in contempt of court. He admitted all the allegations made against him. There were ten cases of making false statements and in one of those cases he gave false evidence at trial.
David James, the Fourth Defendant, commenced his employment on 27 May 2006. He was employed as a rates surveyor in the First Defendant's team. Laurence Gray, the Fifth Defendant, commenced his employment with AF in November 2008. He was employed as a rates surveyor in the Seventh Defendant's team. Keel Broom, the Sixth Defendant, commenced his employment as a rates surveyor on 1 November 2008. His probationary period ended in March 2009. He was a member of the First Defendant's team. The First Defendant is his brother. He resigned on 17 September 2009.
I found all the allegations made against the Fourth, Fifth and Sixth Defendants to have been proved. In the Fourth Defendant's case, they consisted of false statements in five cases and the giving of false evidence at trial in one of those cases (see paragraphs 111 to 143 of the judgment); in the Fifth Defendant's case, false statements in eight cases and the giving of false...
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