UK: Zimbabwean fraudster who faked being a nurse for four years jailed

A fraudster who posed as a registered nurse for four years and earned nearly £200,000 in the process has been jailed.

Ashton Guramatunhu worked in six care homes across the North East of England from January 2015 until April 2019.

Liverpool Crown Court heard that Guramatunhu registered with a Warrington-based nursing agency in late 2014 where he used the identity of a genuine nurse in order to gain employment.

In total it is estimated that he Guramatunhu earned £172,920.94. through his fraudulent activity.

Now, the 46-year-old from Dudley in the West Midlands has been sentenced to 40 months behind bars after he pleaded guilty to fraud.

Guramatunha fake identity was only discovered when the real eal nurse was contacted by the Nursing and Midwifery Council regarding an incident at a care home he never worked at.

The incident was reported to Cleveland Police and an investigation was launched. The case was subsequently passed to Cheshire Police in 2020 after it was established that Guramatunhu was registered to an agency in Warrington.

Following the sentencing Detective Constable Naomi Sargent, who led the investigation said:

Liverpool Crown Court heard that Guramatunhu registered with a Warrington-based nursing agency in late 2014 where he used the identity of a genuine nurse in order to gain employment
An elderly woman in a care home (stock). Liverpool Crown Court heard that Guramatunhu registered with a Warrington-based nursing agency in late 2014 where he used the identity of a genuine nurse in order to gain employment.

‘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.’