Guilty, the bogus nurse who walked in off the street to dupe the NHS for five years

The ease with which Christina Barrett, 53, duped a hospital into giving her work was revealed as she was given a suspended prison sentence after admitting deception.

The mother of two contacted the Nursing and Midwifery Council in 2003 claiming to need her identification number to get back into the profession.

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She said her name was Christina and gave her date of birth, but said she could not remember if she was using her married or maiden surname at the time she registered.

The council matched her details to another Christina and gave her that genuine nurse's number.

Barrett enrolled on a three-month return to nursing course in 2003 and was then able to get work as a staff nurse on a surgical ward at Northampton General Hospital despite not having been fully trained, a court heard.

She worked there until February 2007 and during that time was paid £69,760 gross.

Michael Waterfield, prosecuting, said that when the Nursing and Midwifery Council discovered the mistake it "wrote to the defendant and said she should not practise but she didn't reply nor tell the hospital".

In March last year Barrett was appointed senior night carer and supervisor at Burlington Court care home in Northampton where she worked until September when the deception finally came to light.

Barrett, a former student nurse, pleaded guilty at Northampton Crown Court to obtaining services by deception, obtaining a pecuniary advantage by deception and fraud.

Susan Meek, defending, said: "She liked nursing and wanted to learn more, motivated by her wish to return to nursing, but failed to act over the discrepancies in her qualifications."

Judge Ian Alexander QC sentenced Barrett to nine months in jail suspended for two years, plus a year's probation, £620 costs and 100 hours of community service.

He told her: "You have experience of nursing over the years and knew perfectly well you did not have the qualifications and that poses a risk."

Last night a tearful Barrett said she had left a two-year student nurse course in 1974 - when she had only a few months to complete - because she was getting married.

She said she had recently worked as a health care assistant and had decided to return to nursing in 2003 after seeing national appeals for former nurses to do so.

"I didn't just walk in off the street. I wrongly thought the return to nursing course would top up the training I already had," she claimed at her home in Northampton.

"They were desperate for nurses and I was trying to help people - look where it has got me. I've been to court, I've been punished."

Helen O'Shea, of Northampton General Hospital NHS Trust, said there was no evidence of patients being harmed by the deception.

Jatinder Sehmi, owner of the care home, said: "As soon as we found out she was not a truthful character we terminated her employment."