Sidney George Gower and Patricia Pearl Taylor found guilty of fraud at Bendemeer, near Tamworth after 2019 fire

Sidney George Gower and Patricia Pearl Taylor were convicted after hearing by magistrate Peter Thompson in Tamworth Local Court.

It was the police case that the couple were behind an elaborate insurance fraud after a suspicious campervan fire near Tamworth in 2019.

The pair denied the allegation of dishonestly obtaining financial advantage by deception.

The Bendemeer couple, who now live on the Mid North Coast, were sentenced to terms of imprisonment.

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Mr Thompson found the Section 5 threshold for imprisonment had been crossed, but found the pair could serve their terms in the community.

They were each ordered to serve their sentence by way of an intensive corrections order (ICO).

Gower's was sentenced to a 10-month ICO that will be supervised by community correction authorities. He must perform 80 hours of community service.

Taylor was sentenced to an eight-month ICO that will expire in December.

She must also be supervised, and perform 50 hours of community service.

Detectives claimed the pair submitted a fraudulent insurance claim for the camper before it went up in flames on January 18, 2019, in Bendemeer.

Emergency services were called to the fire, at a property where they were living, but the campervan was destroyed.

Oxley detectives launched an investigation into the circumstances of the fire, which they claimed was suspicious.

Detectives uncovered evidence they claimed proved a fraudulent claim for insurance had been submitted - prior to the fire erupting.

Oxley detectives travelled to Kempsey in August where Taylor, 50, was arrested at the local police station. Gower, 52, was arrested shortly after. No charges have been laid in relation to the fire.

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