A wealthy businesswoman and her boyfriend conspired to commit insurance fraud after he orchestrated a £350,000 raid on her townhouse before she fled to Barbados, a court heard today.
Emma O’Shea, 46, is accused of trying to con insurers into paying out after her ‘high value’ jewellery including rare diamonds, designer handbags, and thousands of pounds of cash was stolen from her £900,000 Hampshire home.
A court heard her boyfriend at the time, Dean Ryan, hired two of his ‘associates’ to carry out the ‘targeted burglary’ while O’Shea and he were out of the house.
O’Shea – who now lives in a £1.5million home – refused to believe that business owner Ryan, 41, was behind the burglary and fled to Barbados while trying to ‘protect’ him by failing to appear at court when he faced justice, it was heard.
After the raid, the couple agreed to trick O’Shea’s home insurance provider by smashing a window and claiming it was broken during the break-in, prosecutors said – when the thieves had actually entered through an open window.
When Ryan was due to stand trial for the burglary, O’Shea – who was still seen as the victim at the time – is said to have caused the case to collapse.
She allegedly hid out in Barbados to avoid giving evidence against Ryan and intimidated her housekeeper, who was also due to give evidence, by warning her ‘you won’t get another penny’.
Today, O’Shea is on trial at a crown court where she denies conspiracy to commit fraud, perverting the course of justice, and attempted intimidation.
Emma O’Shea (pictured), 46, is accused of trying to con insurers into paying out after her ‘high value’ jewellery including rare diamonds, designer handbags, and envelopes containing thousands of pounds of cash was stolen from her £900,000 home
A court heard her boyfriend at the time, Dean Ryan, hired two of his ‘associates’ to carry out the ‘targeted burglary’ while O’Shea and he were out of the house
Her mother, Sarah O’Shea, 69, is also accused of perverting the course of justice by telling her daughter to stay in the Caribbean, a charge she denies.
Ryan’s alleged associates – Matthew Lowden, 33, and Gary Cleeve, 45 – are also on trial alongside the mother and daughter and deny conspiracy to commit burglary of a dwelling.
Jurors At Portsmouth Crown Court, Hampshire, heard that Ryan moved into O’Shea’s townhouse in the Southsea area of the city after they struck up a relationship in 2021.
Prosecutor Dale Sullivan said the eight-minute burglary took place in the afternoon of March 20, 2022, while the couple were out.
Ryan had colluded with Cleeve – who raided the property – and Lowden, who was the driver waiting in a van, jurors were told.
Mr Sullivan said O’Shea was alerted to the burglary thanks to an alert from her Ring doorbell.
‘A male wearing a high vis coat, a baseball cap and facemask was seen on the cameras walking past the front door, down the side of the house and around to the back of the property at 15:50,’ he said.
‘That person was Gary Cleeve, the prosecution say. The male propped ladders taken from the garden against a flat roof. Emma O’Shea asked Dean Ryan if they were due to have workmen at the house that day to which [he responded] there wasn’t any planned.’
Jurors At Portsmouth Crown Court, Hants, heard that Ryan moved into O’Shea’s townhouse in the Southsea area of the city after they struck up a relationship in 2021
Her mother, Sarah O’Shea, 69, is also accused of perverting the course of justice by telling her daughter to stay in the Caribbean, a charge she denies
Worried she had been burgled, O’Shea called police but also called her housekeeper Wioletta Krol asking her to check her home as she was closer.
Mrs Krol found two ladders propped against the back wall and ‘importantly’ that the dressing room window was open and had not been smashed.
‘It was intact’, Mr Sullivan said.
‘Subsequently Wioletta Krol heard Dean Ryan and Emma O’Shea speaking about the window being open and agreeing they would smash it so it would look better for the insurance company.
‘It would appear that Emma O’Shea was concerned that it would look bad for the insurance company if she had left that window open.
‘The following day when Wioletta Krol went to Emma O’Shea’s address to work – the day after the burglary – she found that the window had been smashed.’
Mr Sullivan added: ‘Following the revelation of the burglary the Crown suggest that Dean Ryan and Emma O’Shea agreed together that they would tell her insurance company that an upstairs window which was the point of entry had been broken as part of that burglary.
‘The evidence suggests that this window had been left insecure and had not been broken as part of the burglary.’
Mr Sullivan said O’Shea’s insurance policy did not cover theft unless there was force used to enter and no force was used to exit.
He added: ‘Approximately £350,000 worth of high value jewellery, designer handbags and cash were removed from that property by Gary Cleeve.’
Tanzanite diamonds were stolen as part of the raid, it was heard.
Mr Sullivan said alleged burglar Cleeve knew what to take and was told where the safe key was.
‘The safe had been opened and emptied’, he said. ‘No other windows or doors were attempted for the purposes of access.
‘Cash was also stolen from the master bedroom which is attached to the dressing room but no other rooms within the house were searched.
‘In terms, this was a targeted burglary where those who went in knew exactly what they were looking for as if it had already been prepared for them.’
Mrs Krol had £12,000 in cash that she kept at the home stolen.
Mr Sullivan said a police investigation found Lowden dropped Cleeve home then later that evening Lowden met with Ryan at a nearby angling club.
The following evening Ryan made internet searches about the value of Tanzanite diamonds, it was heard.
By the end of April 2022, police arrested Ryan, Lowden, and Cleeve.
It was heard that Lowden and Cleeve vented their frustrations about Ryan while in the back of a van being transported to a magistrates court.
Cleeve was upset at not being paid by Ryan, with Lowden saying he only got £200. Cleeve said ‘it’s like he got away with it all’.
Lowden said ‘it was all his f***ing amateur idea anyway’ and Cleeve said ‘he won’t get away with it’.
It was heard O’Shea ‘made it clear to police that she did not accept that her partner Ryan was in any way involved’ and asked that he could remain living at the house.
In July 2023 Ryan, Cleeve and Lowden were due to be tried at Portsmouth Crown Court and Mrs Krol and O’Shea were due to give evidence.
O’Shea allegedly contacted Mrs Krol’s daughter on the eve of the trial to intimidate her, messaging: ‘Tell your family to f*** off! You won’t get another penny.’
Mother-of-one O’Shea had told the court she was due to be on holiday in France at the time of the trial but was served with a witness summons, ordering her to attend.
When the trial actually went ahead she was in Barbados – but told the UK court service a ‘flat out lie’ that she was ‘on the South Pacific’.
Mr Sullivan said the intention was to ‘frustrate’ the trial and it ‘succeeded’ because it had to be aborted because O’Shea didn’t attend.
‘Emma O’Shea and Dean Ryan put Emma O’Shea [out of] arms reach from the UK courts when she was due to give evidence for the prosecution. In fact, she went to Barbados’, Mr Sullivan said.
She was arrested at Heathrow Airport on August 7, 2023, telling police she lost her phone.
Mr Sullivan said it emerged Emma O’Shea had been communicating with Ryan while he was in custody and relaying information to her daughter in Barbados.
Mrs O’Shea urged her daughter to remain outside of the UK while the trial took place.
Mr Sullivan said after the trial collapsed, messages between O’Shea and Ryan showed ‘the ongoing and enduring position of Emma O’Shea that she was trying to protect Dean Ryan’.
The four-week trial continues.
