PLYMOUTH, UK (6 August 2008) — Judge Ian Leeming QC has begun his summing-up at the end of a six-week NHS fraud trial at Plymouth Crown Court. Former Fort Hyperbaric boss David Welsh, 51, from Plymstock, his brother Raymond Welsh, 49, of Harlow, Essex, and diving instructor Michael Brass, 44, from Liverpool, deny a charge of conspiracy to defraud between June 12, 1998, and June 18, 2002. David Welsh, Brass and James Chandler, 43, who is also from Liverpool, also deny conspiracy to pervert the course of justice between July 10 and October 2, 2002. The prosecution has claimed that 37 false claims, each for £6,500, were made to various NHS trusts for treatments to divers for 'the bends' at the Fort Bovisand diving centre. The court heard that many of the people in whose names claims were made had never been to Fort Bovisand, been diving or been given hyperbaric treatment. Yesterday's hearing saw Nigel Littley QC finish his address to the jury on behalf of David Welsh. Mr Littley queried whether his client was really the financial controller of the conspiracy to defraud the NHS. He said David Welsh was a hard-working man and an experienced diver with a very successful and world-renowned business, but it had all fallen to dust, which was very sad. Nicolas Gerasimidis QC said his client Raymond Welsh had "a memory like a sieve", and putting him in the witness box to be cross-examined by prosecutor Michael Fitton QC would have been like "giving Gordon Ramsay a steak tenderiser and fresh piece of fillet". Mr Gerasimidis said that if Raymond Welsh had been part of the conspiracy, he would have known that a false claim in his name was submitted in 1999, and subsequently lied about it. In fact, he told police he had not had hyperbaric treatment. The conclusion, he said, was that Mr Welsh was either extremely stupid or not a fraudster at all. He said Raymond Welsh lived 250 miles from his brother and was a hardworking electrician of good character who had never been in trouble with the police. Mr Gerasimidis asked: "Why is he in the dock at all? Is it guilt by association with his brother?" Nigel Power QC, for Michael Brass said there was no doubt that there had been a conspiracy, but his client had wrongly been dubbed its "Mr North West". He said there was no evidence that Mr Brass and a friend did not have hyperbaric treatment as claimed, and no evidence linking him with false claims made for people living in the North West. | | David Welsh and three other UK dive industry insiders have been accused of defrauding Britian's national healthcare system by falsely claiming hyperbaric medical treatment of 37 scuba divers that totaled nearly half a million dollars. He said a man in a Runcorn pub paying people for their details had been described as having a Blackburn or Bolton accent, but Brass was from Liverpool. Mr Power said Brass had a legal right not to give evidence, though he conceded this could have consequences. Barrister Ali Rafati told the jury that his client, James Chandler, had been in custody throughout the trial because he had been arrested after failing to turn up on the first day.
He said Chandler was in a different category from the other defendants. Mr Rafati said Chandler, who was on the dole at the time, admitted signing a letter in exchange for £250. He knew the letter was fraudulent, but did not know it would be passed to the police and used in an attempt to pervert the course of justice. He told the jury: "He's a nobody, brought in with the temptation of making some money and not asking any questions." Brass had told the police under caution that he had never been diving or received hyperbaric treatment, said Mr Rafati. The jury of six men and five women is expected to retire to consider its verdicts tomorrow. |
