A 'fake' nurse who lied about his identity for over four years and put "lives of innocent patients at risk" has been jailed.

Ashton Guramatunhu, 46, became a nurse in late 2014 after he used the identity of a genuine nurse when registering with an agency in Warrington, Cheshire, a court heard.

It was revealed that between Friday, January 1 2015, and Friday 5 April 2019 he went on to work at six nursing homes in the northeast of England, a crown court was told. In total it is estimated that Guramatunhu earned £172,920.94 through his fraudulent activity.

On December 2 Guramatunhu, of Middlepark Road, Dudley, appeared at Liverpool Crown Court where he was sentenced to 40 months in prison. He had previously pleaded guilty to one count of fraud by false representation at an earlier hearing.

It was revealed he was found out as a fake in January 2019 when the real nurse was contacted by the Nursing and Midwifery Council regarding an incident and his fitness to practice at a care home that he had never worked at.

The victim then later reported it to Cleveland Police who launched an investigation. The case was later passed to Cheshire Police in 2020 after it was revealed that Guramatunhu was registered to an agency in Warrington.

Following the sentencing Detective Constable Naomi Sargent, who led the investigation said: "Guramatunhu should never have been working as a nurse. 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.

"The sentence handed to him by the court reflects the severity of his actions and I hope that it acts as a warning to others.

"I would like to take this as an opportunity to thank all of the officers who have been involved in the investigation, including colleagues at Cleveland, Northumbria and Durham Police, along with staff from our Economic Crime Unit who all played key roles in helping to bring Guramatunhu to justice."