A former Labour parliamentary candidate has been sentenced to four years in prison for orchestrating an eight-year fraud scheme that cost the UK taxpayer approximately £170,000. Amran Hussain, 40, who was the Labour candidate for North East Hampshire in the 2015 general election, used fabricated degrees from institutions including Oxford, Harvard, and Birkbeck, University of London, to obtain 13 senior roles within the National Health Service.

Hussain secured these positions by presenting fake certificates and fictitious references. Despite the senior nature of the roles, many with salaries exceeding £78,000 annually, he rarely performed any duties. Instead, he frequently took sick leave, claiming a variety of ailments such as post-COVID-19 syndrome, tiredness, anxiety, depression, headaches, and dizziness. In total, he claimed 1,332 sick days, representing 70% of his employed days.

The deception began to unravel in 2021 when the Devon Partnership NHS Trust conducted background checks on Hussain for a deputy chief operating officer position. They discovered no record of his claimed previous role at the Coventry and Warwickshire Partnership NHS Trust, which led to further investigation.

Hussain was arrested on November 24, 2022, at a secluded cottage in Westerham, Kent, which he was renting from members of the aristocratic Astor family. His fabricated claims extended to court proceedings, where he falsely presented himself as a war hero, only to be exposed as having merely served as an Army reserve.

Amran Hussain is pictured in 2015, when he was the Labour candidate for North East Hampshire in the general election. He is seen shaking hands with the then Labour leader Ed Miliband

His fraudulent activities spanned from July 2014 until September 2022. During this period, he applied for over 2,000 NHS jobs. The total financial loss to the taxpayer from his 13 fraudulent roles was £168,072.41. Some of the highest-ranking positions he secured were NHS Band 8D roles, which had salaries exceeding £78,000 per year at the time. One such role was head of outpatient pathway redesign for University Hospitals Dorset NHS Foundation Trust, where he worked only one shift out of 116 days, claiming sick leave for the remainder.

This is the secluded Kent countryside cottage where Hussain was arrested. He was renting it from Charles Astor and Princess Eliane de Merode of Belgium

Beyond NHS roles, Hussain also fraudulently secured positions at Nottingham CityCare Partnership and Kent County Council. The exact mechanisms by which he repeatedly passed reference checks over the years remain unclear. His ability to maintain this deception allowed him to afford renting a two-bedroom cottage from the Astor family, who were unaware of his criminal activities.

Amran Hussain (pictured now), 40, has been jailed for four years after his eight-year trail of deception finally came to a halt. He cost the taxpayer £170,000 by defrauding the NHS

Hussain was sentenced on July 24 after admitting three counts of fraud by false representation at Maidstone Crown Court. Ben Harrison, Head of Operations at the NHS Counter Fraud Authority, stated that Hussain's actions undermined trust in NHS recruitment and diverted funds from frontline services. The authority continues to work with NHS organizations to reinforce recruitment controls and hold offenders accountable.