Sometimes we expect a little bit too much from psychics, but one thing you would hope is that they'd be able to predict a £100,000 fine.
This wasn't the case for TV psychic Maurice Amdur, who was recently slammed as 'dishonest' by a judge before being hit with a court bill of that very size, after claiming he had lost his powers in a car crash compensation bid.
The 56-year-old celebrity clairvoyant, who predicted Daniel Craig would be James Bond and starred in Maurice's Psychic World on Sky TV, damaged his head and spine when his car was struck from behind at Marble Arch roundabout in January 2015.
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He then told Central London County Court he provides 'psychic readings to the rich and famous around the world', and claimed that the crash had a catastrophic effect on his life and his work as a clairvoyant - stripping him of the vital concentration needed to 'read' for clients.
Despite accepting his claims of being injured, Judge Elizabeth Backhouse, handed him a £100,000 legal bill after finding he made a 'fundamentally dishonest' and 'untrue statement' that he couldn't work as a psychic reader for two years after his accident.
The celebrity psychic was on his way home from collecting a brand new £80,000 Jaguar XKS convertible - one of only 14 in the world - when he was rear shunted by Ilya Krylov.
After the accident he claimed he was racked by pain and reduced to living like a hermit, unable to socialise or work properly.
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He also told the court he lost his girlfriend because of the accident, explaining: "It didn't work out because I wasn't well. I became impotent, I had performance anxiety because I couldn't use my arms."
Mr Amdur, of St John's Wood, London, told the court he began to recognise his strange powers from the age of just four, saying: "I don't know why I'm a reader, it's weird and freaky."
The insurers' lawyers accepted Mr Amdur suffered soft tissue injuries to his neck and spine, but disputed his claims that the crash also caused major damage to both his shoulders, and lasting chest pain.
A key issue in the case was whether Mr Amdur's crash injuries stalled his psychic reading work for two years - as he insisted.
In evidence, Mr Amdur told the court he couldn't get back to work as a psychic until March or April 2017 as he felt he did 'not have the mental sharpness and ability to concentrate sufficiently to do a good job'.
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The judge found Mr Amdur made an 'untrue statement' in declaring that he couldn't work as a psychic reader for two years after his accident, and had in fact done readings during that time.
Sketching out his case, Judge Backhouse explained: "His case is that he was in such severe pain from the injuries sustained in the accident that he was not able to work offering psychic readings for two years after it, as he could not concentrate properly."
She added: "I am prepared to accept that Mr Amdur does believe that he has a 'gift' and that he considers that he behaves with integrity when working as a clairvoyant, unlike others in the field who are 'charlatans' as he called them.
"He considers that he was on the cusp of a major upturn in his career as he had a number of opportunities for TV work at the time of the accident and in the months after it but he was not well enough to take those up.
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"I am prepared to accept that he may not have felt well enough to do as many as usual or to work to normal capacity, but I am satisfied that he did some readings.
"Clearly he must have known that he did that work and I find that in this respect he has been dishonest. I am also satisfied that this is fundamental dishonesty in that the dishonesty went to a substantial part of the claim.
"For the reasons I have already given I have found that this was an untrue statement and that Mr Amdur was able to, and did do some psychic readings following the accident."
The psychic would have been awarded £10,454 for his crash injuries, but his entire claim was dismissed as a 'punitive' step because it was undermined by 'fundamental dishonesty'.
Featured Image Credit: Champion News