A fraudster threatened to firebomb Aviva after the insurance company spotted his fake medical claims.
Gary Lanchester, 36, has been jailed for 22 months for sending numerous threatening emails to his doctor and insurance staff when they refused to pay out or prescribe him drugs.
Norwich Crown Court, sitting in King's Lynn, heard how he had submitted several fake prescription claims and attempted to withdraw funds from his pension with Aviva by submitting a bogus ill-health form purporting to come from his doctor.
When these were spotted he sent multiple threatening emails to staff at Aviva saying he planned to “stab their security” and “petrol bomb their building”.
READ MORE: Man in court over Great Yarmouth petrol attack
Previously Lanchester, of Herries Close, Great Yarmouth, had faked letters authorising the surgery to prescribe changes to his medication.
After these were identified as fraudulent he had numerous appointments with his doctor but was discharged from the service for over-medicating against advice.
He then bombarded his doctor with racial, threatening and abusive emails.
He also made threats towards another doctor containing numerous offensive, threatening and racist remarks which went on for a period of time starting in August 2023.
PC Jodie Jennings, who led the police investigation, said: “Lanchester was horribly abusive and made vile threats of violence using the worst kind of racist language towards people who were just going about their day to day work and trying to help.”
Lanchester admitted to two counts of fraud, one of racially aggravated harassment and three of malicious communications.
READ MORE: Man stole £180k worth of drugs from surgery he worked at
While in prison on remand he asked for 11 other offences to be taken into consideration by the court having been investigated further by Operation Converter, the unit which investigates and encourages defendants to admit to other similar offences they had committed but not been charged with..
These took place between February 2019 and November 2023 and included malicious communications involving a council employee, a dental practice, and an NHS Outreach Centre – all in response to not having his demands met.
He also admitted to damaging cars belonging to surgery staff on several occasions.
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel