Gary Whipps, 32, of Thundersley in Essex, committed the fraud by finding insurance companies that covered bouncy castles and soft play areas between January 2018 and December 2020.

During this time, he doctored 26 clients’ documents, increasing their premiums so he could take the difference for himself, profiting by £46,125 in total. Meantime, the insurance company was paid the original price.

The defendant had worked for the same broker since 2016, but the compliance team did not become suspicious until a bouncy castle hire company in Northern Ireland contacted them with an invalid policy purchased in 2019, stating it was valid in the Republic of Ireland.