£200,000 NHS thief must sell her horses to repay money

A former NHS chief has admitted stealing £200,000 from hospital trusts using fake invoices.

Louise Tomkins, 48, used her executive positions, including one as a senior manager at Imperial College NHS Healthcare Trust, to carry out the deceptions. Southwark crown court heard how she submitted a series of fraudulent invoices to cheat the NHS out of the cash for more than a year.

Now a stud farm owner, Tomkins admitted a single count of defrauding the NHS out of £201,333.27 between
7 July 2007 and 17 September 2008.

She will now have to repay the money by selling 18 of her horses which are stabled at Southfield Stud in Horsham, West Sussex.

Tomkins, from Faygate, Horsham, is the daughter of the late Sir Edward Tomkins, a former British ambassador to France. She left the NHS in 2008 to run her stud.

Judge Christopher Hardy bailed her and adjourned sentencing until 30 April so that she will have time to sell her horses in spring sales. He described the fraud as a "very serious matter".

Neil Saunders, defending, said: "Ms Tomkins worked for various NHS trusts. Over the period between about July 2007, and September 2008, a large number of false invoices were used by her to obtain payments either to herself or to others.

"She accepts the dishonesty, and that the system that was used was false invoices. There is definitely a question of restitution. The principal assets the defendant has is 18 horses. This is not the best time to sell a horse.

"There is no dispute she will accept that the loss or benefit figure is of the range of £200,000, and she will be best placed to realise the assets."