A driver being investigating by police for killing a pedestrian bought fraudulently obtained car insurance through social media to avoid declaring he was under suspicion, thereby saving money, a court has heard.

The scam came to light after he crashed again, and officers found he was involved with a “middle man” who acted as a link between him and as yet unidentified person on Instagram who supplied the dodgy document.

An investigation found the driver had bought what appeared to be cover as a named driver on someone else’s policy without the knowledge of the innocent party.

The reason for the scam was Salam Khan was being investigated for causing the death by dangerous driving of a grandfather and former miner in a crash – and if he had tried to get insurance cover legitimately he would have had to have declared that fact, and seen his premiums rocket as a result.

Swansea Crown Court heard the deceit came to light following a crash in Gorseinon on February 24, 2018.

Jim Davis, prosecuting, said Khan was at the wheel of a Ford Fiesta when he collided with a garden wall on Alexandra Road. The smash caused “considerable damage”, and left Khan needing hospital treatment.

The court heard the driver’s mobile phone was thrown from the vehicle during the impact, and was subsequently picked up by a passerby and handed to a police officer at the scene.

In the course of investigating the crash it emerged that while the Fiesta was registered to Khan, his insurance was as a named driver on a Swinton insurance policy for a man living in Scotland.

Mr Davis said the discrepancy aroused the suspicion of police who contacted the policy holder – he told officers he knew nothing about Khan or the policy, and said it had been set up without his knowledge.

Khan subsequently attended a police station on a voluntary basis and told officers he had bought the insurance on Instagram just a matter of days before the crash, paying co-accused Ruhel Chowdhury to arrange the policy.

At the time of taking out the false policy Khan was being investigated for causing the death by dangerous driving of 55-year-old Gerald Macey in Gorseinon, an incident which had seen the defendant veer across the road in his BMW and smash into a lamp post, sending the pole crashing down on to the grandfather and causing him fatal injuries.

Mr Davis said had Khan declared that fact he was being investigated for such as offence when applying for genuine insurance, he would have had to have paid significantly more for his cover. Khan was ultimately sentenced to 20 months in prison for killing Mr Macey.

The court heard that Chowdhury was arrested and interviewed in connection with the Instagram scam, and he answered “no comment” to all questions.

However, when police examined both Khan’s and Chowdhury’s phones they found conversations between the men about obtaining insurance, including instructions from Chowdhury telling Kahn that he should try to avoid contact with police, and advising him what to say about buying the policy on Instagram if he were to be pulled over.

Mr Davis said that police also found a screen-grab on Chowdhury’s phone of a speeding ticket issued by Avon and Somerset Police in 2016 for a car hired from Europcar in Swansea.

An investigation into that led officers to the hirer of the vehicle, a man by the name of Jahanghir Alam. In his interview Alam told police he had paid Chowdhury £200 to “get rid” of the M4 speeding ticket, and Chowdhury had supplied details of a fictitious man which Alam had then given to police in the West Country claiming that person had, in fact, been the driver on the day in question.

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Khan, aged 25, of Hanover Street, Mount Pleasant, Swansea, had previously pleaded guilty to conspiracy to pervert the course of justice and to fraud when he appeared in the dock for sentencing.

Chowdhury, aged 27, of Western Street, Sandfields, Swansea, had previously pleaded guilty to two conspiracy to pervert the course of justice and to fraud when he appeared in the dock.

Alam, aged 39, Brunswick Street, Swansea, had previously pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to pervert the course of justice.

David Singh, for Khan, said his client’s motivation in obtaining an insurance policy though Instagram had been financial gain – namely to avoid paying the higher premiums due had he declared he was under investigation for causing death by dangerous driving. He said the defendant now accepted that insurance cannot be bought in that way.

Robin Rouch, for Chowdhury, said it was accepted his client had benefited from the enterprise by earning, in effect, a “referral fee”. He said the offending was “not sophisticated” in nature, and the defendant had not realised at the time the serious level of criminality he was involved in. The barrister said Chowdhury had given police the name of the Instagram account where he had gone to obtain the insurance for Khan.

Huw Davis, for Alam, said the defendant had made full and frank admissions to police. He said Alam worked as the manager of a shop, and had a wife and young child who were financially dependant on him.

Judge Paul Thomas QC told the trio they should be in no doubt that in conspiring to pervert the course of justice they had committed a very serious offence, once which struck at the heart of the criminal justice system.

He said Khan and Alam had done so to try to avoid the consequences of their previous actions, while Chowdhury had acted “cynically, criminally and for profit”.

Giving the defendants credit for their guilty pleas the judge sentenced Khan to 16 weeks in prison, and Chowdhury to 24 weeks in prison – each will serve up to half those periods in custody before being released on licence to serve the remainder in the community. Alam was sentenced to 16 weeks in prison suspended for 12 months and was ordered to complete 160 hours of unpaid work, and a rehabilitation programme.