An appeal court judge has ruled that former bosses of a leading legal expenses insurer should pay back a total of almost £6m following their convictions for fraud. 

Compensation orders against Paul Asplin, David Kearns and Sally Jones were approved by the Court of Appeal. The trio will repay the money to DAS Services Ltd.

Asplin and Kearns, who both had senior roles at DAS, set up a company in 2000 called Medreport to supply their employer with medical reports. Jones, who had been married to Asplin, had left DAS in 1999 and became a manager of Medreport and later an owner and director. A jury found the three defendants used their status to exploit the way DAS commissioned medical reports and kept their interest in Medreport hidden from the firm. 

His Honour Judge Beddoe found that the total loss suffered by DAS as a result of the conspiracy amounted to £11.2m but limited the compensation order to around £8.3m to reflect their realisable assets. 

An anonymous doctor looks through hospital files

A jury found the three defendants used their status to exploit the way DAS commissioned medical reports

Source: I stock

They appealed the decision, asking to reopen the issue of whether their pensions formed part of their realisable assets.

Lord Justice Males said the judge should not have included the salaries paid to Asplin and Kearns in the loss figures and revised the loss figure down to almost £6m.

Noting it was appropriate to reflect the relative culpability of each appellant, he concluded that Asplin should pay £3.5m (around 60% of the overall loss) with the remaining divided equally between Kearns and Jones.

Males LJ also extended the deadline for payment of the confiscation and compensation orders until six months from the date of this judgment to give more time to gain access to funds held in trust.

The court dismissed the prosecution’s application for its costs of conducting the conviction and confiscations appeals to be paid out of central funds.