Bogus nurse escapes jail

A woman who worked for 23 years as a nurse despite never having qualified escaped jail today.

Valerie Cook carried out vaccinations and smear tests as a practice nurse for a series of south London GPs. Her deception only came to light a month after she was promoted, when bosses realised she had not passed her nursing exams.

Sutton and Merton Primary Care Trust has had to spend hundreds of thousands of pounds auditing her work, tracking down patients she treated and recalling them for new appointments.

Cook, 57, from Merton Park, wept at Kingston Crown Court as Judge Charles Tilling told her she was guilty of a "sophisticated deception".

At a previous hearing Cook had admitted deception, using a false instrument and falsely representing that she was a qualified nurse.

Judge Tilling suspended a ninemonth prison sentence, but said he would not have done so had the post she had applied for, clinical governance coordinator, involved dealing with patients. The court heard she had been a "highly respected" worker.