Hospital boss ordered to repay £96k over CV lies

FORMER chairman of Royal Cornwall Hospitals Trust (RCHT) Jon Andrewes has been ordered to pay back £96,737 after lying about his qualifications and calling himself a doctor without a PhD.

Andrewes, from Totnes, was jailed for two years in 2017 after pleading guilty to two counts of fraud and to obtaining money by deception.

Andrewes, (right), who was chairman of the RCHT for 18 months between 2015 and 2016, admitted his PhD was a work of fiction and that he was in fact a builder and social worker who had blagged his way into lucrative NHS jobs.

Exeter Crown Court heard at the time that Andrewes secured highprofile roles as chairman of Torbay NHS Care Trust, the Royal Cornwall Hospitals Trust and as a chief executive for a hospice in Somerset.

However, his CV was a tissue of lies, which included boasts of having an advanced diploma in management and accounting, a PhD in leadership and success from Plymouth University, an MPhil in prevention and social justice from Bristol University and an MBA in management and accountancy from Edinburgh. He rewrote his entire employment history so it included stints for the Home Office, HM Revenue and Customs, and for charities.

Andrewes suddenly stepped down from his RCHT role in 2016 citing ill health. Before then, he was chairman of Torbay Care Trust from 2007 and its successor, Torbay and Southern Devon Health and Care Trust.

After he was exposed and sent to jail, Andrewes was also ordered to hand over £96,737. However, Andrewes appealed and the Court of Appeal overturned the confiscation order.

The Crown has now successfully taken the case to the Supreme Court, the BBC reports.

Lord Hodge and Lord Burrows announced that Andrewes must pay £96,737, which Lord Kitchin, Lord Hamblen and Lord Stephens agreed to.

We previously reported how Andrewes earned a six-figure salary but the only qualifications he had were a higher education certificate in social work from the 1970s and a PGCE in teaching .

Official records show he was in fact employed as a social worker, probation officer and builder. The fraudster claimed he previously worked for the Home Office, entered the medical sector in 2004 and kept up the act for over a decade.

He beat off dozens of candidates to land the roles, including 117 rivals to become chair of Royal Cornwall Hospital Trust and earned in excess of £1m in total.

His lies were finally unravelled in 2016 when bosses finally interviewed him and discovered his impressive credentials were fabricated.