Driver persuaded friend to hit him with frying pan to back up fake robbery tale

A DRIVER went to extraordinary lengths to convince police his car had been stolen in a robbery – including getting a friend to hit him in the face with a frying pan.

But driver Alex Hobbs’ mission to try to fool the authorities failed and he was found guilty of fraud and wasting police time.

Hobbs, 19, from Swallowfield, near Peterborough, made a false report to police, claiming he had been assaulted and his Ford Fiesta had been robbed.

He later told officers he was the one driving it and that he had lost control, crashed and overturned.

He pleaded guilty at Cambridge

Crown Court to fraud and wasting police time, Cambridgeshire Police said.

The force said he was sentenced to a six-month driving ban, a 12-month community order and ordered to carry out 60 hours of unpaid work.

Police found Hobbs’ crashed car in David’s Lane, in the Werrington area of Peterborough, just before 2am on May 11 last year.

He was not at home when officers visited, but he rang police at 8.30am the same day, claiming that he had been assaulted and had had his car stolen.

Officers visited him to take a statement regarding the alleged robbery but noted that he kept losing concentration.

When officers visited him again later the same day, Hobbs admitted he had been driving the car at the time of the crash and confirmed the robbery claim was in fact false. Hobbs told them that he got a friend to hit him in the face with a pan to cause injury and make his story more believable.

Detective Constable Paddy Reeve said: “Hobbs’ desire to run away from the scene of an accident meant an innocent person could have been arrested for simply being in the wrong place at the wrong time. “

The detective added: “Getting his friend to deliberately hit him in the face with a pan to cause injuries shows the extent to which Hobbs was willing to go with his lies.”