By Deborah Nnamdi
A 61-year-old UK-based Nigerian doctor, Richard Akinrolabu, has been sentenced to three years in prison after admitting to defrauding the National Health Service (NHS) of more than £268,000.
Akinrolabu was handed the sentence at Woolwich Crown Court on 4 November 2025, having earlier pleaded guilty to four counts of fraud by false representation.
The obstetrics and gynaecology specialist registrar, who worked at the Princess Royal University Hospital under the King’s College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, secretly took night and on-call shifts at three other NHS trusts between 2018 and 2021. During the same period, he claimed to be unfit for similar duties at his main workplace, at times reporting sick or requesting reduced duties. His absences forced the trust to hire locum doctors to cover his shifts.
The fraud was uncovered in 2021 when King’s College Hospital received information that he had been working night shifts at Basildon Hospital. Subsequent investigations by the trust and the NHS Counter Fraud Authority (NHSCFA) revealed additional shifts at Princess Alexandra Hospital, East Kent Hospitals University Foundation Trust and Mid-South Essex NHS Foundation Trust.
Akinrolabu was interviewed under caution in 2022 but declined to comment. After further evidence was gathered, he was charged and later convicted.
While sentencing, Judge David Miller said: “You lied to occupational health, your colleagues and your employer. The public doesn’t expect doctors to lie for personal gain.”
Ben Harrison, Head of Operations at the NHSCFA, described the act as a “clear and deliberate abuse of trust,” noting that the diverted funds should have gone toward patient care.
Akinrolabu had previously attracted public attention in 2006 when he was cleared of allegations related to an alleged offer to perform an illegal abortion. A GMC panel dismissed the claims due to inconsistencies, though he admitted to having an affair with the complainant.
