News Article
19 October 2009
Nursing student jailed 9 months for NHS fraud
A student who was failed part way through an NHS-funded, 3-year nursing diploma at City University, London, and then embarked on a similar course at Thames Valley University, has been sentenced to 9 months’ imprisonment for fraud and faces deportation (Chelmsford Crown Court, Thursday 15th October). The conviction follows an investigation by the NHS Counter Fraud Service (NHS CFS).
Rosemary Isioma Nwabuwa,52, (also known as Lolo Isioma Ubani), used false documents to dishonestly obtain both university places, as well as a valuable NHS student bursary. She attempted to obtain a bursary at Thames Valley by the same means.
The total loss to the NHS was approximately £38,000: some £24,000 for the three NHS-funded years she spent at the universities, plus a £14,088.23 NHS student bursary while at City.
His Honour Judge GA Bathurst-Norman recommended that she be deported following her release from prison.
She pleaded guilty to three of five counts: False Accounting Contrary to Section 17(1) Theft Act 1968; Fraud Contrary to Section 1 Fraud Act 2006; and Possession of False Identity Documents Contrary to Section 25(1) of the Identity Cards Act 2006.
Nwabuwa received nine months’ imprisonment for each of the first two offences and six months’ imprisonment for the third, all to be served concurrently. Two other similar charges were left on file.
She originally entered the UK on a six month visitor visa which required her to leave the country in October 2003, and an extension was refused.
Nwabuwa was arrested in late September this year by Essex Police officers attached to the UK Borders Agency Stansted Airport unit, working alongside the NHS CFS investigating officer. A search of her home revealed several Nigerian passports, forged Home Office letters and a forged National Insurance Number Card. A genuine UK passport (previously reported as lost or stolen) was also seized, where the biometric page had been manipulated to indicate it belonged to her. She was remanded in custody following her first appearance at Harlow Magistrates Court on the 30th September.
Alan McGill, Eastern Counter Fraud Specialist, NHS Counter Fraud Service, said today: “As well as the loss to the NHS, Nwabuwa’s actions may mean that someone else lost out on a place or bursary. The NHS Counter Fraud Service will act on all suspicions of fraud against the NHS and where appropriate will always seek prosecution.”