Builder who lied on CV to land top NHS exec jobs must pay back £100k

A former probation officer who lied in his CV to land several top NHS jobs will have to pay back nearly £100,000 after a decision by the UK's highest court.

Jon Andrewes, 69, worked for more than a decade in various senior health jobs, including chairman of two NHS trusts and chief executive of a hospice after pretending to have a PhD and a master's degree and lying about his work history.

After his "staggering lies" were uncovered, Andrewes - who earned more than £1m from his various roles - pleaded guilty to one count of obtaining a pecuniary advantage by deception and two counts of fraud in January 2017.

In March that year the 69-year-old, who had no previous convictions, was jailed for two years.

He was also ordered to hand over his remaining assets of £96,737 after the judge said he had received income he shouldn't have received.

That confiscation order was later overturned by the Court of Appeal when judges ruled he had given ‘full value’ for his salary in the jobs he did but now judges at the Supreme Court - the highest court in the land - have reinstated the order so Andrewes will have to pay back nearly £100,000 after all.

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In a judgement, they said: "Mr Andrewes has performed valuable services for the hospice and the two trusts in return for the net earnings and, if one were to focus solely on his performance of the services (before his fraud was uncovered), it would be hard to deny that the hospice and the two trusts were receiving full value in exchange for the salary paid.

"But the hospice and the two trusts sought to employ or engage in a senior managerial position a person of honesty and integrity and Mr Andrewes would not have obtained the employment or office, which would have gone to another candidate, if the truth about his qualifications had been known.

"In that sense, the fraudster would be profiting from his crime if no confiscation order were made."

Before fraudulently getting himself jobs in the NHS, Andrewes had started his career as a builder before going on to spend much of it as a probation officer, customs officer or youth worker.

In order to get top NHS jobs in the south-west, he claimed to have two PhD's and a master's degree when really he only had a higher education diploma in social work and a teaching qualification. He also lied over his work history, falsely claiming to have worked in the Home Office.

Andrewes, who styled himself Dr though he had no right to the title, went on to gain roles including chairman of the Royal Cornwall hospital trust, chief executive at St Margaret’s hospice in Taunton and temporary chair of Torbay NHS trust.

An investigation at the hospice uncovered discrepancies in his CV and led to police being called in and Andrewes being prosecuted.