Scottish nurse jailed for faking leukaemia to steal £185k pension
A former children’s nurse in Scotland was sentenced to two years in prison after fabricating terminal leukaemia and fraudulently claiming £185,422.95 in pension benefits.
Amanda Reid, a former children’s nurse in Lanarkshire, was convicted of repeatedly pretending to have terminal leukaemia in order to collect £185,422.95 in pension payments. She forged sixteen medical letters, added a Spire Hospital Edinburgh logo, and shaved her head daily to appear ill, while also diverting controlled drugs from the NHS. The fraud spanned from April 2021 to August 2024 and financed a holiday in Dubai.
The Nursing and Midwifery Council removed her from the professional register, and Livingston Sheriff Court sentenced her to two years’ imprisonment, emphasizing her lack of insight, remorse and the potential risk to patients if such conduct recurred. A social worker could not independently verify her claimed Munchausen’s syndrome, and the panel highlighted a sustained, pre-meditated pattern of dishonest behaviour.
Why it matters
The case exposes serious fraud and ethical breaches in healthcare, undermining public trust in medical professionals.
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