A FORMER hospital finance boss has been jailed on forgery charges.

Philip Neal produced bogus valuer's reports on land and property owned by the Mid-Essex Hospital Services NHS Trust.

The scheme made the Trust's financial position appear better than it was and landed Neal with a £2,500 pay rise, taking his salary over £100,000.

The bogus documents made it look as if the Trust had met a £1 million surplus target for the year 2004-05.

But Chelmsford Crown Court heard how the true figure was a loss of £10 million once a proper audit was carried out.

Neal did not make any money from the scheme but the court heard how more than £180,000 had to be paid by the Trust for a fresh set of accounts and the cost of hiring an interim finance boss.

Neal was told by Judge Anthony Goldstaub QC his behaviour had deeply damaged the Trust that had beenplaced in him.

The judge jailed Neal for 12 months.

Neal, the former director of finance and deputy chief executive of the Trust, had faced 13 charges after a probe by the NHS counter fraud service.

At an earlier hearing, he admitted four charges of forgery relating to district valuer's reports on land and property owned by the Trust.

The court heard the reports concerned land at Broomfield Hospital and St John's Hospital in Chelmsford, St Michael's Hospital in Braintree, and a laboratory site in New Writtle Street, Chelmsford.

His pleas were accepted by the prosecution and two charges of making a false document, six of using a copy of a false documents and a charge of stealing a laptop computer belonging to the Mid-Essex Hospital Service were left on the file.

Emma Deacon, prosecuting, said another charge against Neal of obtaining a pecuniary advantage by deception will not be proceeded with either.

Neal, of Billers Chase, Chelmsford, produced the bogus land reports and passed them on to bosses at the health Trust.

When questions were raised over the reports, the NHS Counter Fraud Service was brought in.

Neal initially tried to divert blame away from himself and "muddied the waters," Judge Goldstaub said.

6:08pm Wednesday 26th March 2008

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