NHS fraud jury considers verdict

Trevor Molton was dismissed as WYMAS chief executive in April 2004

The jury in the trial of an ambulance trust chief accused of defrauding the NHS out of £250,000 has retired to consider its verdict.

Trevor Molton, 50, former chief executive of the West Yorkshire Metropolitan Ambulance Service Trust, is on trial at Manchester Crown Court.

He, the trust's former finance director John Miners, 54, and Paul Buckley, 35, of Leeds, deny conspiracy to defraud.

They are accused of using trust money to pay for a private property company.

The jury of seven men and five women retired on Tuesday after almost five weeks of evidence.

The prosecution alleges Mr Molton, of Pickering, North Yorkshire, and Mr Miners, of Nailsea, near Bristol, used their positions in charge of the ambulance trust to fund a failing business aimed at housing Filipino nurses in 2000 and 2001.

The defence argued that the two men were not acting dishonestly.

Earlier in the trial, charges against Mr Molton's wife Angela were dismissed after Judge Anthony Ensor instructed the jury to return a not guilty verdict.

The jury's deliberations are expected to continue on Wednesday morning.