Four defendants have been convicted at Leeds Crown Court of money laundering and fraud offences. The main defendant, Neil Wood, was a senior manager within NHS England, responsible for assessing and providing training for NHS managers. The other defendants were friends, associates and family members of Mr Wood.
Simon Higginbotham, specialist fraud lawyer at the CPS said:
“Neil Wood used his position to syphon off millions of pounds from the NHS for his own benefit. The fraud is staggering – Wood outsourced services which could have been undertaken in-house so that his wife, friends and contacts received vast sums of money they were not entitled to. However, of the money his friends received, Neil Wood more often than not received a 50% cut. In total, over £3m was fraudulently spent in this way, and Neil Wood received over half of that.
“All those who have been convicted today, as well as Neil Wood who has already pleaded guilty, have now been held to account for these self-interested actions.”
Details of the convictions:
Neil Wood – Pleaded guilty to two Counts of conspiracy to commit fraud by abuse of position (s4 Fraud Act 2006) and one Count of conspiracy to commit fraud by misrepresentation (s2 Fraud Act 2006)
Lisa Wood – Pleaded guilty to one Count of money laundering (s327 Proceeds of Crime Act 2002)
Huw Grove – Two Counts of conspiracy to commit fraud by abuse of position (s4 Fraud Act 2006)
Terence Dixon – One Count of conspiracy to commit fraud by abuse of position (s4 Fraud Act 2006)
Additional information:
Four other defendants were also found not guilty by the jury.
