A model and semi-professional footballer has this week been jailed for two months for making up a personal injury claim.

Amy Laban, who played for Nottingham Forest and Birmingham City ladies teams, said she had been ‘taken advantage of’ by a claims management company to make the claim.

Laban, 25, and Laura Hazeldine, 24, made the £3,000 claim against insurer Esure following a road traffic accident in April 2012 in Birmingham. Hazeldine was also sentenced to two months in jail yesterday.

After Laban failed to attend medical appointments to verify her injuries, defendant firm Horwich Farrelly successfully applied to the High Court to dismiss the claims.

The court heard investigators had obtained photos of her taking part in gruelling fitness tests for a beauty pageant and doing a skydive while she claimed to be suffering from whiplash injuries.

In June, both Laban and Hazeldine admitted to the deception and pleaded guilty to contempt of court.

Laban said that a week after the accident she had received numerous harassing calls from various claims companies and that she had been persuaded to submit a claim by one particularly pushy firm. She said the caller also encouraged her to get Hazeldine involved.

In her statement, Laban, a former Miss England contestant, said she was ‘young, vulnerable, stupid, but also taken advantage of by a claims company’.

In his sentencing remarks, HHJ Godsmark (pictured) said: ‘The claim was fraudulent right from the start. People think this is a victimless crime, however, it uses the courts’ resources to facilitate the crime; it uses insurers’ resources.

‘Genuine claimants have the eye of suspicion cast on their claims. The courts have stressed repeatedly that those who commit this [false claims] must receive prison sentences.’