A HUSBAND and wife who tried to swindle an insurance company out of nearly £17,000 have been jailed for eight months.

Graeme and Kathryn Willmore submitted an insurance claim to Direct Line claiming various expensive electrical items such as hi-fis, computers and plasma tvs had been damaged when their home was flooded by burglars, but the insurers employed chartered loss adjustors who concluded the claim was bogus.

The couple, both 43 and living at Sandown Leas, Sandwich, were sentenced at Canterbury Crown Court having admitted attempting to obtain a valuable security by deception.

Andrew Espley, for Mrs Willmore, called the fraud a "crack-brained plan that wouldn’t have fooled anybody."

Judge Adele Williams said that in the past Graeme Willmore had worked for the criminal justice unit and as a coroners clerk and Mrs Willmore had worked for the DSS.

Judge Williams said: "These defendants had been employed by organisations or authorities where telling the truth about making claims or dealing with people is absolutely at a premium and yet they have committed this serious offence.

"I find that very disquieting and an aggravating feature of this offence."