A nurse designed an elaborate sick note scam so she could jet to Cuba and marry a bloke she met there, before posting pictures of the getaway on Facebook.
Sarah Oakes, 44, had her scheme unravelled at Liverpool Crown Court yesterday (May 2), where she got away with a 14-month imprisonment suspended for two years, after admitting two counts of fraud by false representation.
It was found that Oakes forged a doctor’s note in order to be granted leave before faking a reference from her employer in order to gain a second role, the Liverpool ECHO reports.
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Oakes first began working at Whiston Hospital in Merseyside in October 2015, and she then went off sick in February 2019 complaining of chronic hip pain and having reportedly had surgery on her foot.
(Image: Liverpool Echo)
The mother, from Runcorn, Cheshire, failed to attend a number of welfare appointments, after which it was discovered she had provided the trust with three fraudulent sick notes. She ultimately resigned from her position on August 28 that year.
It subsequently transpired Oakes had been offered a job at Warrington Hospital after attending an open day in January 2019, although she did not begin work until August 12. She obtained this staff nurse role after providing two references.
However, it was then found one of these testimonials, from a fellow employee at Whiston Hospital, had not been genuine. Oakes was dismissed from Warrington Hospital in November 2021.
(Image: Colin Lane/Liverpool Echo)
She was also said to have visited Cuba twice during her six months on sick leave, having posted pictures from these trips on her Facebook page. One of these excursions saw her travel to meet her then boyfriend, while the second journey was undertaken in order to marry him.
Ms Holt said Oakes had falsely claimed a total of more than £31,000 in wages from Warrington Hospital and sick pay from Whiston Hospital. She has no previous convictions.
Sentencing, Judge Anil Murray said: “This was a sustained period that you were lying for. There is significant personal mitigation, and if I were to send you to prison that would have a calamitous effect on your children.
“I am just able to suspend this sentence. If I meet you again, it will mean that you have breached this order. I will be driven to send you to prison.”
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