Carlisle's most senior Crown Court judge has begun sentencing 35 people who were part of a huge "cash for crash" insurance fraud.

All were part of an ambitious £600,000 scam masterminded by former Wigton man Mark McCracken, 48, who hid behind multiple fake identities as he organised and oversaw numerous fake crashes.

The case is the biggest of its kind ever seen in Cumbria.

At Carlisle Crown Court today, there were so many defendants that some, along with their barristers and lawyers, had to be accommodated in a second court, with the hearing relayed from Judge Davies' court by a live video link.

Prosecutor Tim Evans told the court that McCracken had a stash of fake identity documents – hidden in a” hidey hole” behind a mirror at his family's home in Wigton.

He used those documents to generate bogus claims after imaginary crashes and non-existent injuries.

His defence barrister Simon Gurney said that McCracken, of Castlesteads Drive, Sandsfield Park, Carlisle, staged the fake crashes with “willing” parties but while in prison he had resolved to put his life of crime behind him.

Four of the 35 defendants are Cumbrian car dealers and garage owners, who had all denied insurance fraud.

Carlisle men Peter Farish, 44, and Duncan Pape, 53, along with Richard Miller, 43, and 36-year-old Stuart Bell, both from Wigton, were convicted after a trial.

Farish, of Cumwhinton Drive, Parkland Village, owns used car company Castleway Motors, in Church Street, Carlisle, while 53-year-old Pape, of Wigton Road, operates bodywork shop Tekno Painting, based on the Willowholme Industrial Estate.

S&A Bell owner Stuart Bell, of Deer Park, Wigton, and Miller, who has R Miller Bodyworks in Blencogo, were also involved.

The court has so far heard mitigation for six defendants.

All are due to be sentenced on Friday after barristers have spoken for all the defendants. See tomorrow's News & Star for a full report.