A man who made a bogus insurance claim by staging a crash with his wife and pretending they did not know each other has been jailed for a year.

David Ward and Lynsey Ivory of The Beeches, Clonshaugh, Priorswood in Dublin were caught after the company noticed they were in each other's Facebook profile pictures.

On July 22nd 2013, gardaí attended a crash in Donabate, north Dublin.

David Ward told them he was a passenger in a car that rear-ended a VW Passat - the driver of which was Lynsey Ivory, a woman he claimed was a total stranger.

Her story matched up and they both made claims to FBD Insurance.

Eyebrows were raised when a claims officer examined their Facebook pages, and noticed they appeared in one another's profile pictures.

Gardaí called to the address Ms Ivory had provided in her claim, and Mr Ward answered the door.

Not only were they not strangers - the court heard they were living together, had children together and were planning a wedding.

Today, Judge Martin Nolan fully suspended a two year sentence for Ms Ivory, but felt the crime was serious enough to warrant a one year prison sentence for her now-husband because he has a criminal record.