CCTV captured a woman lying in Iceland ahead of the compensation offer

CCTV shows the moment a shopper staged a fake accident in a supermarket to try and claim thousands of pounds in injury compensation from Iceland. Teresa Birch was caught on camera slowly lying on the ground at The Food Warehouse in Paignton, Devon, on January 2 last year.

The footage shows the gray-haired woman gently lowering herself to the floor in the supermarket’s aisles, unseen by staff and other shoppers. She then tried to make a personal injury claim against supermarket chain Iceland Foods – but the offender’s plans backfired once the CCTV came to light.

Birch has now avoided jail and was ordered to pay more than £17,000 in court costs after being convicted of contempt of court. She said she was involved in an accident after her “foot got caught in the bag loop handle” of a bag that had been left outside.

Birch then tried to claim £10,000 compensation for injuries to his right knee and left hand by submitting a Claims Notification Form through solicitors on February 21 last year. However, the supermarket denied liability and shared CCTV footage which they said made it “crystal clear” that the accident was planned and staged.

Birch’s lawyers immediately stopped acting on her behalf and she herself was taken to court. On Friday, Birch pleaded guilty to contempt of court before Mr Justice Mitchell, who sits as a High Court judge at Plymouth District Registry.

She received a four-week prison sentence, suspended for twelve months, and was also ordered to pay Iceland’s costs of more than £17,000. Iceland Foods legal director Duncan Vaughan said: “We and other retailers are often faced with fraudulent or exaggerated claims which can be difficult to defend.

“In this case we had strong evidence in the CCTV footage which meant there was no other reasonable explanation for the defendant’s actions other than deliberately staging an ‘accident’ to make a claim against us.”

Iceland CEO Tarsem Dhaliwal added: “Like shoplifting, making fraudulent injury claims increases the stress and costs of doing business and ultimately makes shopping more expensive for everyone. We are determined to fight this in the interest of our colleagues, customers and society as a whole.

“Anyone who sees Iceland as a soft touch should be in no doubt that we will do everything we can to bring down the fraudsters and will not hesitate to bring them before the courts for punishment.”