A Highland property developer has been jailed after admitting to attempted insurance fraud and setting fire to the site in an effort to secure a £400,000 payment.
Michael Maggs, 52, was sentenced to 13 months in prison at Inverness Sheriff Court on Monday, April 17 after admitting to the crime.
The man had been developing three properties at a site at Earlseat Steading, Moyness, near Nairn.
He obtained insurance coverage by an international company by claiming the site was well-secured with fencing and CCTV. He also stated he had been living on the premises.
READ MORE: Police probe underway after former pub 'deliberately' set on fire
However, neither of the claims were true.
On November 29, 2017, emergency services were called to tackle a fire on the Earlseat Steading site.
However after the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service (SFRS) extinguished the fire, two of the house were completely destroyed.
The fire was later found to be deliberate though a joint investigation by Police Scotland and SFRS.
Detective Inspector Reuben Lindsay said: “Maggs wove a tangled tale in order to obtain insurance for the buildings he was developing.
"He was economical with the truth, and has now pled guilty to causing the fire and deliberately trying to obtain a large insurance payment fraudulently.
“People like Maggs will not be allowed to get away with such fraud and I welcome his sentencing. No matter how long it takes, we will always work to bring those responsible for fraud to justice.”
Maggs was arrested and charged with insurance fraud in connection with the fire on October 2, 2018 after a "lengthy and complex" probe.
SFRS area commander Michael Humphreys warned of the "devastating" consequences of deliberate fire-raising.
He added: "Fires have the potential to cause serious injury or death, as well as extensive damage to properties and our environment.
"They are also a needless drain on emergency service resources. We continue to work with police and other partners to identify those responsible for these acts.”
Jon Radford, head of intelligence, investigations and data services at the Insurance Fraud Bureau, said: "Insurance fraud is not a victimless crime. It costs everyone and can even put innocent people at risk.
"We're pleased that our collaboration with Police Scotland and SFRS has helped to bring Maggs to justice."
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here