PLYMOUTH, UK (5 Feb 2009) — A fradulent businessman who masterminded a scam to swindle £250,000 out of the NHS was jailed for five years yesterday. David Welsh ran a dive centre and submitted dozens of false claims to NHS trusts all around the country claiming divers were treated for decompression sickness, known as "the bends". The 52-year-old, along with his former employees Anthony Walker and veteran diving instructor Michael Brass, obtained personal details of individuals by various means and then claimed £6,500 for treating them. They ran the Fort Hyperbaric diving disease treatment centre at Fort Bovisand, near Plymouth, Devon. At the city's Crown Court Judge Ian Leeming QC said the gang's actions "deprived NHS patients". He said: "Your victim was the NHS. The claims were in respect of real people who were said to have been treated, but in truth had not received any treatment at all. The fraud was of the most serious kind, systematic and well planned." After a six-week trial last summer Welsh and Brass were found guilty of conspiracy to defraud between June 12, 1998 and June 18, 2002. Walker, who blew the whistle on the scam, had earlier pleaded guilty to the same charge. Welsh and Brass were also found guilty of conspiracy to pervert the course of justice between July 10 and October 2, 2002. Welsh, from Plymstock, Devon, was sentenced to five years for the fraud and three months for conspiracy to pervert the course of justice, to run concurrently. Brass, 44, from Liverpool, who has absconded and was sentenced in his absence, was sentenced to two years for the fraud and three months for conspiracy to pervert the course of justice, to run concurrently. A warrant was issued for the arrest of Brass. | | Dive center owner David Welsh (left) and fugitive scuba diving instructor Michael Brass (right) were sentenced to jail for a scam that raked in £250,000 from false claims of hyperbaric medical treatment for decompression sickness (the bends). Walker escaped jail as he had no previous convictions and had given "substantial" information to the police. The 55-year-old, from Paignton, South Devon, was sentenced to two years for the fraud, suspended for 12 months. During the trial, the court heard many of the people had never been to Fort Bovisand, never dived and never received hyperbaric treatment. In some cases, people in pubs were tempted by £200 cash to hand over their name, address, doctor's details and National Insurance number. Other people's details were obtained without their knowledge. |
