Patricia Rogers: Barnsley woman's fake disability was exposed after she went on The Jeremy Kyle Show

A Barnsley woman who fraudulently claimed to be unable to walk to an insurance company was caught out when she made the ‘extraordinarily stupid decision’ to go on The Jeremy Kyle Show, exposing her ‘lack of disability’. 

Defendant, Patricia Rogers, suffered a ‘relatively minor injury’ at the age of 15 when she was involved in a road traffic collision, travelling as a passenger in a car being driven by her stepfather, Sheffield Crown Court heard. 

The bogus claim - alleging Rogers had suffered a debilitating back injury, which left her unable to walk - was initiated by Rogers’ stepfather who has since passed away. 

The Recorder of Sheffield, Judge Jeremy Richardson KC, said: “He has since died, and cannot answer for himself, but that appears to be the position.”

Judge Richardson told the court, however, that as she grew older, not only did Rogers attempt to continue with the fraudulent claim, but she also ‘added to it’. 

“Instead of pulling back from that fraud - initiated by your stepfather - you added to it. You went along with it, and the criminality therefore locked on to you. 

“You informed the insurance company that you suffered from a debilitating back injury. You indicated that you were, in essence, unable to walk and suffered considerable pain,” Judge Richardson told Rogers, now aged 25. 

The claim was still in progress when Rogers went on The Jeremy Kyle Show, a hearing held on April 9, 2024 heard. 

Referring to what he described as Rogers’ ‘bizarre’ appearance on The Jeremy Kyle Show, Judge Richardson continued: “As a result of your baleful family circumstances, you made what may only be described as an extraordinarily stupid decision to go on a television programme and discuss - in public - all of your family difficulties. 

“That television programme was viewed by a lot of people, it would appear, albeit I gather it was on daytime television.

“It was inevitable that a disability - or rather lack of a disability - would be exposed.

“And so it was, you went for a medical examination in April 2021, as a result of the insurance company being concerned about the claim. You represented to the doctor that you were in considerable pain. You answered a medical questionnaire, setting out details that were comprehensively dishonest. 

“You were no longer a child at that stage, and had locked on to the fraud fully by that period.”

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The Jeremy Kyle Show was cancelled by ITV in May 2019 after guest Steve Dymond died a week after failing a lie detector test filmed for the reality show

The court heard how the insurance company felt it necessary to hire a private investigator to tail Rogers, of Hoyland Road, Barnsley. 

Rogers’ claim was ultimately rejected once her fraud was exposed, but prior to this, she received a £1,000 interim payment, of which she spent £500, the court heard. 

“You would have been entitled to some level of compensation. The indicated claim has not been paid out by the insurance company because it was fraud, but had you not been found out, this would have amounted to tens of thousands of pounds. 

“I’ve little doubt, however, that the insurance company has been put at considerable expense to investigate your bogus claim. A private investigator has had to be instructed, a doctor has had to be instructed, and so on,” Judge Richardson said. 

Rogers was subsequently charged, and pleaded guilty to, one count of fraud at an earlier hearing. 

Summarising the mitigating factors in Rogers’ case, Judge Richardson said: “I note your mother’s alcoholism, your abusive upbringing.”

He continued by saying he noted that the family connections she did have, have now ‘evaporated and disintegrated’. 

“You present as a very sad individual,” he said. 

Judge Richardson sentenced Rogers to 12 months’ custody, suspended for 18 months, after coming to the conclusion that ‘he cannot say that the only way of dealing’ with Rogers is to impose an immediate sentence.

“It seems to me that in all of the circumstances of this case that a suspended sentence is the right course of action.”

He added: “This was a serious and protracted attempt to deceive an insurance company.”

Rogers was also ordered to pay £500 in compensation to the insurance company, at a rate of £50 per month.