UK woman applies for her own death certificate to escape prosecution for driving offences

Although an online request was filed for the death certificate, it was not issued because no death was on the register.

The woman was sentenced to jail for eight months.

A woman who faked her own death to avoid prosecution for driving offences has been jailed in London. Zoe Bernard, 38, of Kensington, was already disbarred from driving when she was arrested for driving carelessly and failing to stop, in Kilburn, in 2020.

In an attempt to deceive the police, Zoe Bernard, 38, even applied for a death certificate to try to convince police she had died, Essex Live reported. Bernard, who claimed to be a Grenfell fire survivor, gave a false name when caught driving carelessly while being banned and without insurance.

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She decided to fake her death after law enforcement agencies discovered her real identity, the report added.

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The Southwark Crown Court heard her case recently and found that she has a series of previous convictions, including drink-driving, driving while disqualified, battery and assaulting police officers. Now, the court sentenced her to be jailed for eight months for “perverting the course of justice,” Coventry Telegraph reported.

According to BBC News, Bernard posed as her sister Shanice in calls to the police and said “Zoe” had died. Although an online request was filed for the death certificate, it was not issued because no death was on the register, the report explained.

Although her lawyer told the court that she had physical and mental health problems and had suffered a string of tragedies, the judge wasn’t quite convinced.

“This offence was clearly the result of some degree of thought and planning by you,” the judge was quoted as saying. “I am quite satisfied this was an effort on your part to deceive the police.”