Man stole identity of nurse to work in care homes across the North

A man who stole a genuine nurse’s identity to work in care homes across the country has been jailed.

Ashton Guramatunhu, 46, from Dudley, registered with a nursing agency in Warrington using the identity of a nurse to get employment, Liverpool Crown Court heard.

Between January 1, 2015, and April 5, 2019, he went on to work at six nursing homes in the northeast of England.

Through his fraudulent activity, Guramatunhu earned an estimated total of  £172,920.

Guramatunhu’s story unravelled in January 2019, when the Nursing and Midwifery Council contacted the real nurse whose identity he had stolen, regarding his fitness to practise at a care home where he had never even worked.

In 2020, the case was passed to Cheshire Police after it was established that Guramatunhu was registered to an agency in Warrington.

At an earlier hearing, he pleaded guilty to one count of fraud by false representation.

Yesterday, he was sentenced to 40 months in prison.

Following the sentencing, DC Naomi Sargent, who led the investigation, said: ‘Guramatunhu should never have been working as a nurse. While he had been to university, his previous convictions meant that he was not suitable to work in the care sector.

‘He put the lives of innocent patients at risk, purely for his own financial gain, and I have no doubt that he would have continued his offending had he not been arrested.

‘The sentence handed to him by the court reflects the severity of his actions and I hope that it acts as a warning to others.

‘I would like to take this as an opportunity to thank all of the officers who have been involved in the investigation, including colleagues at Cleveland, Northumbria and Durham Police, along with staff from our Economic Crime Unit who all played key roles in helping to bring Guramatunhu to justice.’

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