"EPIDEMIC OF BROKEN RIBS"

Evening Post, Volume CXXII, Issue 32, 6 August 1936, Page 4

"EPIDEMIC OF BROKEN RIBS"

.. • , I Three men and theirwives were committed' for trial'at Leeds recently on charges of conspiracy to defraud insurance companies, says the' "Daily Telegraph." .They were alleged to have ! been concerned in; what was called an "epidemic of broken ribs." / They were George Robinson and his wife, Margaret; Willie Houlsworth and his wife, Violet; and William Burnley and his wife, Mary.' , Seventeen people in all have been accu,sed on conspiracy, .and.,a number of them were committed for trial previously. The prosecutors were insurance companies ;and Lloyd's underwriters, ,who covered for accident risks. registered readers of the following newspapers:— "Daily Mail," "Daily Mirror," "Sunday Pictorial,": "Sunday1 Dispatch," "News of the World;" "People," "Daily Sketch," "Daily Dispatch," ' "Sunday. Graphic," "Empire News," "Sunday Chronicle," "Daily Express," "Sunday Express," "Daily Herald," and "News-Chionicle." It was stated that a numoer of people, particularly in the York Road and Holbeck districts of Leeds, appeared to be suffering from a series of accidents in which they were receiving broken ribs. Jn every case the accident was alleged to- have been caused by being knocked down by a bicycle, but the prosecution declared that all the .accidents \ were imaginary. , ' The'six people dealt with were charged" with "conspiracy, to', defraud Lloyd's underwriters of £5 on a claim made in February last year. Mr. Donald Kaberry, prosecuting, stated that this case referred to a claim •against the ".News-Chronicle."