Nurse spared jail term for fraud

The hospital has brought in a new system to prevent similar frauds

A nurse who swindled the NHS out of nearly £50,000 by claiming pay for shifts she had not worked has been given a suspended sentence.

Coventry Crown Court heard how Tatenda Tapera exploited a flaw in the time sheets system used at the city's Walsgrave Hospital.

Tapera, 27, was sentenced to 18-months suspended after she admitted 20 counts of obtaining money by deception.

The court heard she used the loophole for two years but had repaid the money.

Premature birth

Honorary Recorder Judge Richard Cole told Tapera she had committed "very serious" offences.

But he spared her a prison sentence after hearing how the nurse, from Stockingford, Nuneaton, Warwickshire, had repaid the full amount of money taken.

Judge Cole also took into account the needs of her second son, who was born three weeks premature.

I just realised there was a flaw in the system and I just took advantage of it Tatenda Tapera

"I have come to the conclusion that the interests of justice will be better served by the ordering of the sentence to be suspended in its entirety for two years," he said.

The court heard how Tapera joined a "bank" scheme of nurses employed to cover shifts by Warwickshire Primary Care NHS Trust.

The Zimbabwean-born 27-year-old's two-year fraud campaign began when her time sheets were mislaid.

She was asked to fill them in again and, when she was later paid twice, the nurse realised there was no system in place for cross-checking her declared hours of work.

The fraud netted her £45,346.88 gross until it was exposed last September.

Sick mother

Tapera told police on arrest: "I just realised there was a flaw in the system and I just took advantage of it."

Tapera admitted 20 counts of obtaining money by deception and asked for a further 83 to be taken into account at a previous hearing before Coventry magistrates.

Jabeen Akhtar, defending, said her client had not spent the money on a lavish lifestyle, but sent £25,000 to her elderly mother in Zimbabwe for urgent medical treatment.

Tapera was sentenced to 18 months on all counts to run concurrently.

The court heard that a new computerised system has since been introduced at the Walsgrave in an effort to prevent similar frauds.