Merseyside Nurse Jailed For 9 Months For Fraud

Main Category: Nursing / Midwifery
Also Included In: Litigation / Medical Malpractice
Article Date: 17 Jun 2009 - 5:00 PDT

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A nurse has been sentenced to 9 months' imprisonment at Liverpool Crown Court (15th June, 2009) for obtaining an NHS bursary and then employment in a private nursing home using forged documents, after overstaying his leave to remain in the UK. The conviction follows an investigation by NHS Counter Fraud.

Roy Kudzai Mapfumo of Southport, Merseyside, defrauded over £20,000 from the NHS and was sentenced to 9 months' imprisonment on two counts, to run concurrently. He pleaded guilty to two charges at North Sefton Magistrates Court on 1st May, 2009: one offence of False Accounting (in relation to the bursary) and one offence against Section Two of the Fraud Act 2006 (in relation to obtaining employment).

In February 2001 Mapfumo was granted limited leave to remain as a student in the UK until the end of October the same year but then failed to contact the Home Office when his leave expired.

He obtained a place on a three-year degree course in Adult Nursing at Buckinghamshire New University and was awarded an NHS student bursary of £20,317.10 using a forged vignette in his passport, which falsely indicated he had indefinite leave to remain in the UK.

He applied for his job at the nursing home using his Zimbabwean passport together with a forged Home Office letter indicating indefinite leave to remain with no restrictions on seeking employment.

Source
NHS Counter Fraud