Conman who lied way to top NHS jobs can keep £1m for ‘working hard’
‘Serial dishonesty’
A CONMAN who chaired two NHS trusts after lying on his CV will keep £1million in pay – after a court ruled he worked hard for it.
Jon Andrewes raked in the skyhigh earnings after claiming to have a PhD and styling himself as ‘Dr Andrewes’.
It was just one of the ‘staggering lies’ he told about his qualifications and experience to win a string of high-flying posts, London’s court of Appeal heard.
His dishonesty netted him a £75,000-a-year job as chief executive of St margaret’s Hospice, a charity based in Taunton, where he worked for more than a decade. He was then appointed chairman of the Torbay NHS care Trust and the Royal cornwall NHS Hospital Trust.
Andrewes, 65, from Totnes, was sacked and prosecuted in 2015 after the truth emerged. He later pleaded guilty to two counts of fraud and one of obtaining a pecuniary advantage by deception and was jailed for two years. The judge who locked him up said he had lived an ‘outwardly prestigious’ lifestyle on the basis of his ‘staggering lies’.
And in 2018, a judge ruled that money Andrewes had earned from positions he gained through lying amounted to proceeds of crime.
The court heard the fraud led to Andrewes being overpaid by £643,000 over more than a decade – most of which he had spent. The rest of the money – more than £96,000 – was confiscated under the Proceeds of crime Act.
But now, Appeal court judges said he had, in effect, been punished twice for the same crimes. Lord Justice Davis ruled that, hav ophy ing ‘properly performed his duties’ for ten years, he had given ‘ full value’ for the salary and benefits he received – even though he had obtained the roles fraudulently.
When applying for the hospice job in 2004, Andrewes claimed to hold joint honours and master of philos-degrees from Bristol University. He claimed he had an MBA from Edinburgh University, a PhD from Plymouth University and an advanced diploma in accounting – none of which was true.
Giving details of his experience, Andrewes claimed he had been seconded to the Home office and worked as chief executive and managing director of two charities.
In reality, Andrewes was a social worker for 20 years. After two years in the hospice job, he demanded staff address him as ‘Dr Andrewes’. Using that title and repeating his lies, he applied for paid positions with the two NHS trusts, rising to chair of both of them.
But lawyers argued every penny Andrewes had made over the tenyear period ‘ represented the proceeds of criminality’ and that he would never have won the roles without his serial dishonesty. Upholding Andrewes’ appeal, Lord Justice Davis said even if he still had the money, it would make ‘no sense’ to strip him of his earnings.
The judge ruled: ‘Andrewes is to be taken as having over the years given full value, in terms of the services he provided... whilst he had obtained the positions dishonestly, they were positions which he was otherwise lawfully entitled to hold.’
Through his work, he made ‘full restoration’ of the money he received and to hit him with a confiscation order ‘would involve a double penalty,’ the judge said. The confiscation order of £96,737 was overturned.