Manager jailed for five years for cheating trust out of £800,000

Barry David Stannard, 53, from Chelmsford, Essex, was sentenced at Chelmsford Crown Court yesterday to five years and four months in prison.

Mr Stannard pleaded guilty to four charges — two of fraud by false representation, and two of cheating the public revenue — on 26 May.

Over a period of seven years, Mr Stannard defrauded Mid Essex Hospital Services Trust — which has since merged into Mid and South Essex FT — out of £806,229.80. He was head of unified communications at the time.

An investigation found Mr Stannard was the director of two companies which had received a large amount of money from the trust. This had not been declared on his register of interests.

The NHS Counter Fraud Authority said that, from 2012 to 2019, Mr Stannard submitted hundreds of invoices from his own companies, charging the NHS for “relatively modest amounts”. This meant he could sign them off without additional authorisation.

During this time, no products or services charged for by the two companies were ever provided to the NHS. 

On the invoices he submitted, he also charged for VAT which was never forwarded to HMRC. The investigation found the VAT registration number was false and related to another legitimate company. The total VAT he charged the NHS for came to £132,000.

An initial investigation was undertaken by the local counter-fraud specialist provider before being escalated to a national level.

Sue Frith, NHSCFA CEO, said: “Barry Stannard abused his position in an outrageous way to line his pockets with money intended for NHS services.

“We are aware of the significant risk that procurement fraud poses for the NHS, which is why the NHS Counter-Fraud Authority has been continually working to develop fraud prevention solutions over the last few years.

“[This] sentence shows that the NHSCFA’s investigative and preventative work tackling NHS fraud is vital.”

A Mid and South Essex FT spokesperson said: “The actions of those who defraud the NHS have a serious impact on us all. We have been working closely with the [NHSCFA] and will continue to do all we can to protect public money and to ensure that anyone who does attempt to defraud the system is brought to justice.”