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Ryan Kirk: Seacroft leg-break liar tried to swindle £617,000 of taxpayers' money
A Seacroft dad-of-one who tried to fiddle taxpayers out of £617,000 after claiming he tripped on a pavement in Leeds has been given a suspended jail term.
Ryan Kirk, 24, said he dislocated his knee by smashing it on a BT junction box after tripping on a broken paving stone on May 6 2002.
Aged just 16 at the time, his father David Kirk put in a compensation claim to Leeds City Council for his son's injury which could be life-long.
But Ryan had actually injured himself by kicking the box in frustration after a fight.
He admitted attempting to obtain property by deception at Leeds Crown Court where a charge against his father was thrown out.
Judge Kerry MacGill told Ryan his injury was "caused purely and clearly by your own stupidity".
The court heard that solicitors representing Ryan had contacted the council in October 2002 before filing a huge compensation claim totalling 617,000.
Initially the council accepted there was a fault with the pavement but when the mammoth claim was made, they began making further enquiries.
A doctor who compiled a medical report as part of the case discovered that Ryan's account of the incident in A&E at the time was different to the one in the claim.
In A&E he had told staff he had kicked a solid object with the sole of his foot.
The 999 call made at the time was then uncovered where Ryan told the operator he had "booted the box". Two eye witnesses had also seen Ryan kick the box deliberately.
But Ryan continued to pursue the claim until the case was struck out in 2007. He finally admitted the crime just before a trial in June this year.
His dad David was arrested and interviewed but the court heard that his knowledge was based on his son's account.
The judge ordered a not guilty verdict on David after the prosecution offered no evidence against him.
Jason Pitter, defending, said: "This did not start life as an attempt to gain significant sums of money from Leeds City Council. This was a lie to his father to prevent him from getting into trouble with his father. He had not thought his father would want to take matters further and there was a legal claim for compensation and then the size of that claim. All of those things were without his control because of his age (at the time).
"Once in the hands of lawyers it mushroomed beyond anyone's contemplation."
The court heard that Ryan now has a 17-month-old son.
Sentencing him, Judge MacGill said: "Local authorities are besieged with tripping claims. It's a blight on their economy as very substantial amounts of money have to be paid out...These claims are a blight on the public purse."
The judge said when the truth was uncovered: "It quite literally blew your account out of the water".
Ryan was given a 12 month prison sentence, suspended for two years, and ordered to complete 240 hours of unpaid work.
The judge said: "You were a stupid boy. You can consider yourself extremely fortunate and a word of warning to any parent blind to the truth of what's going on - be careful in future of the facts."
Ryan still has to pay the council's legal costs of dealing with his false claim – which totalled 10,832 – after the council made a civil claim earlier this year.
Coun Richard Brett, leader of Leeds City Council, said that there has been a drop in the number and value of compensation claims over the last eight years.
He added: "The council is not a 'cash cow' to be milked by people who think it is easy money to put a false claim in, this is money that has to come out of budgets providing vital services for the people of Leeds."
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Friday 18 May 2012
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