Walter Mitty NHS chief who used fake CVs is jailed
A FRAUDSTER who was appointed the chairman of two NHS trusts after using CVs packed with ‘staggering lies’ has been jailed.
Walter Mitty character Jon Andrewes earned more than £1million during his decade in chief executive roles after health chiefs made no effort to verify his credentials.
The 63-year- old’s lies were only uncovered when he suddenly resigned from his £100,000-a-year job, raising suspicions among other staff.
It then took NHS investigators just two days to unravel his deception.
Simple checks revealed he had invented his series of impressive qualifications, including the claim he held two PhDs. Andrewes had also faked his employment record, claiming to be a former Home Office executive and council boss.
In fact, he was an ex-builder, who had also worked as a probation officer and social worker – and his only qualifications were a higher education diploma and a post-graduate teaching degree.
Yesterday he was jailed for two years after admitting charges of fraud and gaining pecuniary advantage at Exeter Crown Court. Judge Geoffrey Mercer QC told him: ‘Your outwardly prestigious life was based upon ... a series of staggering lies.
‘[ They were] lies by which you obtained responsible positions which you ... would not have otherwise obtained.
‘Because of your fraud you received an income you should not have received. The total income was in excess of £1million.’ The court heard Andrewes wrote his fake CV in 2004. He claimed to hold PhDs in ethics management and business administration from Plymouth University and Heriot-Watt University, as well as a masters from Bris- tol. The CV falsely claimed he was a former executive officer at the Home Office and a managing director with Somerset County Council. It also said he was an HMRC executive in 1969 – even though he would have been 16 at the time.
In 2005 he was made chief executive of St Margaret’s Hospice in Taunton, Somerset. He earned almost £100,000 a year until he suddenly stepped down in March 2015, before leaving the NHS in July that year claiming he was retiring due to ill health.
He was also appointed chairman of Torbay NHS Care Trust in 2007, before taking on the same role at Royal Cornwall Hospital Trust in 2015.
The NHS fraud team only looked more closely at his background after his resig- nation. Basic checks confirmed he never achieved the qualifications.
A senior NHS insider said: ‘It beggars belief that no due diligence was carried out when he was appointed to these roles.’
Ros Collins, defending, said Andrewes was ‘extremely regretful and remorseful at his sheer stupidity’ – and that he had been ‘loyal to the caring profession for many, many years’.
Last night NHS Improvement, which employed Andrewes, admitted they failed to check his qualifications but said ‘no concerns’ had been raised about his performance.
A spokesman said: ‘While a number of checks were undertaken to confirm Mr Andrewes suitability for this role, they did not include checking his qualifications.’ They said further checks had since been introduced. A financial inquiry will be held later.
‘Staggering series of lies’