NHS cuts campaigner stole from surgery

A campaigner who protested against NHS cuts has been jailed for a year after stealing £50,000 from the GP surgery where she worked.

Patricia Mayo, 60, plundered surgery accounts, Bristol Crown Court heard. She worked at the Hartwood Health Centre in Hartcliffe, Bristol, between 2011 and 2016, starting on a £40,000-a-year salary.

But after she left, it emerged Mayo started paying herself an unauthorised £2,000 in 2012, which doubled the following year until a total of more than £50,000 had been stolen. She admitted fraud by abuse of position.