28.11.14
Rochdale couple jailed for £229K NHS fraud conspiracy
Two NHS managers who masterminded a five-year procurement fraud worth £229,000 against a health authority in the north west were jailed yesterday at Manchester Crown Court.
John Leigh (54) formerly of Bolton Road, Rochdale, and Deborah Hancox (44) of Birchfield Drive, Rochdale, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to defraud the NHS. Leigh also pleaded guilty to conspiracy to conceal criminal property. The couple were arrested in December 2013 in Cyprus and extradited to the UK, having fled the country in 2009.
The systematic fraud took place between 2003 and 2008. Leigh and Hancox both worked at the North Western Deanery, part of the North West Strategic Health Authority. Leigh was employed as an IT Network Manager and Hancox as an Information and Quality Assurance Manager. They lived a comfortable lifestyle, buying a cottage in the Lake District, driving a Jaguar 4.2 V8 Convertible, and investing hundreds of thousands of pounds in Iraq, the United Arab Emirates and Turkey.
The pair used three companies as a front to disguise their ongoing fraud – Action Technology Ltd (trading as Action Direct), Bibi’s IT Solutions Ltd and Wiscom Technology Ltd. These companies sold IT equipment to the North Western Deanery at inflated prices – their combined fraudulent turnover was more than £1million. Leigh and Hancox had links to all of them, but neither made any declaration of interest to the health authority.
Following an anonymous tip-off, the matter was investigated by a Local Counter Fraud Specialist (LCFS), before being referred to NHS Protect, whose fraud investigators worked with Greater Manchester Police to secure a successful result. They also worked with the National Crime Agency to issue European Arrest Warrants, and later to have the fugitives extradited back to the UK.
Sue Frith, managing director of NHS Protect, said: “This was a serious fraud against the NHS, cynically carried out by two individuals abusing their positions of trust and authority. Their determined attempts to evade justice compound the crimes. All suspicions of fraud reported to NHS Protect will be followed up, and investigated wherever appropriate. We press for prosecution of offenders and seek the strongest possible sanctions, so public money is not diverted from patient care.”
Police sergeant Laura Walters added: "This couple were involved in a well-orchestrated and meticulously planned conspiracy to defraud the NHS out of hundreds of thousands of pounds. I am delighted this case has finally been concluded and these con artists have been exposed and brought to justice.”
(Image: Manchester Crown Court c. Mikey)
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