A man who impersonated a registered nurse for four years, working in vulnerable care home settings and earning nearly £200,000, has been sent to prison.
The Fraudulent Career
Ashton Guramatunhu, 46, from Dudley in the West Midlands, fraudulently worked across six care homes in North East England between January 2015 and April 2019. He secured his positions by registering with a nursing agency based in Warrington in late 2014, using the stolen identity of a legitimate, qualified nurse.
Liverpool Crown Court heard how Guramatunhu’s deception went undetected for years, allowing him to gain employment repeatedly. It is estimated his illicit earnings from this activity totalled £172,920.94.
How the Deception Unravelled
The fraud was finally exposed when the genuine nurse, whose identity had been stolen, was contacted by the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) about an incident at a care home where they had never worked. This alarming discrepancy prompted the real nurse to raise the alarm.
The incident was initially reported to Cleveland Police, who launched an investigation. The case was later transferred to Cheshire Police in 2020 after it was established that Guramatunhu had been registered with the agency in their force area, Warrington.
Justice Served and Official Reaction
Guramatunhu ultimately pleaded guilty to fraud and was sentenced to 40 months imprisonment. Following the sentencing, Detective Constable Naomi Sargent, who led the investigation, issued a stern condemnation of his actions.
"Guramatunhu should never have been working as a nurse," DC Sargent stated. "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."
She emphasised that the sentence reflected the severity of the crime and should serve as a warning to others. DC Sargent also thanked the collaborative efforts of officers from Cleveland, Northumbria, and Durham Police, along with staff from the Economic Crime Unit, for their key roles in securing justice.
The case highlights critical vulnerabilities in pre-employment checks within the care sector and the severe consequences for those who exploit them for personal profit.
