John Leigh and Deborah Hancox have been jailed for defrauding the NHS out of £1m

John Leigh and Deborah Hancox

John Leigh (born 25/02/1960) and Deborah Hancox (born 12/11/1969), of Bolton Road, Rochdale, who were involved in a criminal plot to defraud the National Health Service by up to £1m by supplying equipment and services at exorbitant prices, have been sentenced.

Leigh and Hancox pleaded guilty to conspiracy to defraud and conspiracy to conceal criminal property at an earlier hearing and today, 27 November 2014, Leigh was sentenced to 44 months and Hancox to 24 months in prison.

The couple were involved in a seven-year conspiracy between January 2001 and October 2008 to supply goods and services to the NHS at inflated costs. It is thought the value of the fraud was more than £1m, with the couple pocketing about £300,000 from the scam.

Leigh worked for the NHS in purchasing and was responsible for buying mostly computers and other office equipment for various NHS departments. His partner Deborah Hancox also worked for the NHS.

For more than seven years, Leigh used a company called Action Direct Technology Ltd - of which his partner Hancox was the owner, sole shareholder and company director - to buy overpriced goods and defraud his employer the NHS.

They operated a profitable criminal enterprise for years, with Action Direct Technology Ltd making huge amounts of cash.

In July 2007, the company stopped selling to the NHS and Leigh began to use a company called Bibi IT Solutions. 50 percent ownership of Bibi IT Solutions belonged to a company called Symetrics Global Consultants based in the Virgin Island. The sole shareholder of this company was later revealed to be John Leigh.

Later, a company called Wiscom Technology Ltd was also used to source goods and services for the NHS at exorbitant prices. The actual goods were then bought for much cheaper prices from other suppliers and the four pocketed the difference for themselves.

The total value of orders through Action Direct was £824,093, through Bibi IT solutions £181,053 and Wiscom £55,934.

Following an operation involving GMP, NHS Protect and the National Crime Agency, on 30 December 2013, Leigh and Hancox were extradited from Cyprus to face criminal charges.

As the investigation unfolded, police discovered some of the profits had been used to buy an apartment in Dubai, a cottage in Windemere which was rented out as a holiday home, a brand new Jaguar convertible and a Mercedes.

Police Sergeant Laura Walters said: "This couple were involved in an well-orchestrated and meticulously planned conspiracy to defraud the NHS out of hundreds of thousands of pounds.

"This was not a get-rich quick scheme - this was a sustained criminal enterprise stretching over seven years. Seven years is a long time to see the error of your ways but these individuals showed no remorse for their actions.

"In fact, we believe the very reason they switched companies later on was to cover-up what they had done should there ever be an investigation. We also seized hundreds of email exchanges which showed they went to great lengths to cover their tracks by cooking the books to give them an air of authenticity.

"It is also clear they used the proceeds of their criminal activity to live a lavish lifestyle - the couple had a holiday home in the Lake District and they also invested in property in the United Arab Emirates and Cyprus.

"I also want to stress this is by no means a victimless crime. It is the NHS they scammed out of out thousands of pounds - money which the NHS badly needs for the treatment of people with genuine illness. Every penny they plundered is money that was diverted away from someone in desperate need of medical treatment.

"I am delighted this case has finally been concluded and these con artists have been exposed and brought to justice."

Sue Frith, managing director of NHS Protect, said: "This was a serious fraud against the NHS, cynically carried out by two individuals abusing their positions of trust and authority.

"Their determined attempts to evade justice compound the crimes. All suspicions of fraud reported to NHS Protect will be followed up, and investigated wherever appropriate. We press for prosecution of offenders and seek the strongest possible sanctions, so public money is not diverted from patient care."