Fraudulent ex-NHS chair told he must repay almost £100k

Jon Andrewes invented fake degrees and qualifications, which helped him secure a chief executive role at a hospice as well as two chair positions at NHS trusts – Torbay Care Trust (which later became Torbay and Southern Devon Health and Care Trust) and Royal Cornwall Hospital Trust.

Mr Andrewes’ frauds led to him being overpaid by more than £643,000 over more than a decade at the St Margaret’s Hospice in Taunton and the two trusts.

He was jailed for two years by Exeter Crown Court in 2017, having pleaded guilty to two counts of misrepresenting his qualifications and one count of pecuniary advantage by deception.

At a 2018 hearing, Mr Andrewes was given a confiscation order, which required him to repay £96,737.24. This was the value of his available assets – which included a half share in a Dutch barge, a share of his profit from the sale of his house in Topsham, Devon, an insurance payout for a Seat Leon car, premium bonds, and a pension plan.

Mr Andrewes successfully appealed the confiscation order to the Court of Appeal in 2020, but the appeal was today overturned by the Supreme Court – following an appeal by the Crown.

In its judgment, the court said it was “proportionate” to confiscate the difference between the higher earnings made because of the CV fraud and the lower earnings Mr Andrewes would have made had he not committed the CV fraud, based on his salary in his previous job.

Mr Andrewes was exposed in 2015 when he was chairing RCHT and staff became suspicious, prompting a check on his CV.

He claimed to have been managing director of a youth charity called Groundworks when in fact he had spent most of his career as a probation officer, customs officer or youth worker.

His only formal qualification was a higher education certificate in social work from Bristol University. Despite this, he styled himself as Dr Andrewes.

In a series of job applications, he provided CVs which claimed he had a PhD in leadership and success from Plymouth University, where he said he had written a thesis called Women in Power.

He lied about having a masters in business administration from Edinburgh University and a degree from Bristol. He also claimed to have a diploma in advanced accountancy.

NHS Counter Fraud Authority brought the recovery proceedings.