A BOLTON garage owner and three other men have been jailed for their part in a £50,000 cash for crash scam.

At Manchester Crown Court Judge Martin Steiger QC jailed 51-year-old Richard Beswick for 18 months.

His employee Michael Entwistle was given a 12 month sentence, sus- pended for 12 months and 200 hours community service.

Two other men, car owner John Cody and Bury vehicle recovery firm boss Craig Phillips were also given prison sentences of two years and three years respectively.

William Donnelly, prosecuting, told the court the crime dated back to July 18 2007 when Stephen Eatherall’s Range Rover broke down on the M62 with a failed automatic gear box and it was towed to Prest- wich.

Eatherall, aged 30, from Brunswick Street, Burnley, who had only recently bought the £11,000 vehicle on finance, could not afford the repair, which would have cost more than £1,000 and so got involved in a plot to have the vehicle written off and claim the cash from his insurance company.

Nine days after the breakdown he contacted Zurich Insurance to say the car had been involved in a colli- sion with an Audi car at the junction of Bury Old Road and Arthur Lane, Breightmet on July 21.

Mr Donnelly said insurers were told Phillips Recovery, from Lord Street, Bury, had recovered the vehi- cle, with owner Craig Phillips put- ting in a claim for clearing debris from the carriageway.

The insurance company was informed the Range Rover had hit the Audi car, owned by John Cody in the rear, and both vehicles were a write off.

Richard Beswick, who runs Tri- umph Restorations in Breightmet, alleged he was driving the Audi, with employee Michael Entwistle as his passenger and both men put in whiplash claims.

But both cars were judged to have been deliberately rammed and insurers launched an investigation.

In May 2008 Eatherall, who will be sentenced at a later date for his part in the conspiracy, confessed to investigators. Beswick, aged 51, of The Hall Coppice, Egerton, Entwistle, aged 45, of Somerton Road, Breightmet, and Cody, aged 38, of Lynton Lea, Radcliffe, all pleaded guilty to conspiracy to com- mit fraud.

Phillips, aged 45, of The Nook, Heap Bridge, Bury, denied the charge but was found guilty follow- ing a trial.

Lisa Judge, defending Beswick said he had withdrawn his whiplash claim and had been under financial pressure.

Sentencing all four men Judge Steiger said the Bolton crime had been “ingeniously engineered by men who had skills way beyond those available to the individual”.