RINGLEADERS in the "crash for cash" insurance scam have been told to pay back just £10 each, despite benefitting by more than £543,000

Members of the Yandell family from Blackwood, owners of the Easifix garage in the town which was at the centre of the fraud case, appeared at a Proceeds of Crime Act hearing in Newport Crown Court yesterday. They are: Byron Yandell, aged 33, of Queen’s Road, New Tredegar; his father Peter Yandell, aged 54, of Wheatley Place, Blackwood and Byron's ex-wife Rachel Yandell, aged 32, of Queen’s Road, New Tredegar.

The court heard the total amount gained by the three defendants was more than £543,142 but prosecutor Christopher Clee QC said the available amount that could be confiscated was £10 each as none of them had any assets.

The owners of Easifix, Byron and Peter Yandell are each currently serving six-year prison sentences after being found guilty of charges of conspiracy to defraud, conspiracy to steal, and handling stolen goods. Rachel Yandell is currently serving five years in prison for conspiracy to defraud, conspiracy to steal, and handling offences.

The court heard, Byron Yandell had benefitted from the scam by £202,640, his father Peter Yandell benefitted by £168,197 and Rachel Yandell by £172,305.

Judge Daniel Williams ordered each of them to pay the £10 by July 28 or face an extra day in prison.

Rachel Yandell's mother Susan Jones, aged 61, of Queen's Road, New Tredegar, was ordered to pay back the £71,000 she benefitted from the scam. She was previously given a seven-and-a-half month suspended sentence for one count of conspiracy to defraud.

The court heard her home in Queen's Road, where Rachel Yandell's children live, will have to be sold to pay the £71,000. She has three months to pay or face 12 months in prison.

Another co-defendant Jennifer Cosh, aged 40, of Pontygwindy Road, Caerphilly, who has finished her three year prison sentence, benefitted by £132,842 but has been ordered to pay back £10. She has until the end of July to do so or faces one day in prison.

The POCA hearing for Anthony Callaghan, aged 38, also of Pontygwindy Road, Caerphilly, who has finished his 27 months sentence of imprisonment, for conspiracy to defraud and conspiracy to steal, has been adjourned until a later date.

The fraud was uncovered by Operation Dino, a four-and-a-half year Gwent Police investigation and the biggest operation into insurance fraud in the UK.

It involved 28 claims to 16 different insurance companies, 27 of which were bogus. More than 80 people were convicted for various levels of involvement during 2009-11, with insurance companies conned out of more than £760,000.