Mark Evill, 47, Howells, 65, and Cope, 43, received jail sentences at Merthyr Tydfil Crown Court.
Mark Evill, 42, was jailed for seven years and has been disqualified as acting as a director for seven years. Robert Howells, 65, received a sentence of 4 years. A third defendant, Michael Cope, 43, was sentenced to 3 years in prison. The three men worked for Powys Teaching Health Board’s estates department.
The three men were employed as managers with Powys Teaching Health Board.
The court heard the trio abused their positions to help award Evill’s bogus construction company with contracts from Powys Teaching Health Board.
Judge Peter Heywood said that Evill had created George Morgan Ltd, which was apparently named after his dog, in an attempt to “divert” NHS contracts to himself, before recruiting others into a “despicable fraud on the health service”.
He said Evill had “the gaul to create fictitious characters” in an effort to hide the fraud, including made-up employees called Paul Hewson and David Evans – the real names of Bono and The Edge from U2.
Judge Heywood said the men had all abused “positions of responsibility and trust” committing a serious fraud on an already “over strained national health service.”
The court had been told the work carried out on hospitals by Evill’s firm was so poor it cost the NHS £1.4m to repair. Some of the jobs commissioned, at the children’s wing of Brecon Memorial Hospital, Bronllys Hospital and Welshpool Hospital were not even carried out.
Evill spent his company’s profits on holidays to Dubai, flying business class, as well as expensive watches, property, and cars.
Merthyr Tydfil Crown Court previously heard Cope had received a £500 cheque from Evill’s company for his role in the fraud, while Howells, a project manager, received a Ford Focus car worth £10,000 and cash.
Files and audit trails on Evill’s role as agency project manager for the estates and property department were said to be virtually non existent, allowing him to create a “trail of false documentation”.
This included liaising with other legitimate members of the health board, by pretending to be some of the fictional characters for George Morgan Ltd over email, and through letters.
An anonymous allegation was received via the NHS Fraud & Corruption Reporting Line, which stated that Evill and Howells had misappropriated NHS money by receiving “pay-offs” from external contractors.
Evill had initially denied three counts of transferring criminal property, fraud and perverting the course of justice, but changed his pleas during his trial.
Evill had set up a construction firm George Morgan Limited, named after his dog, to secretly award building contracts worth £707,946.24 to himself from Powys Teaching Health Board.
Evill used money from the firm’s account to buy a Land Rover Defender, an Audi A4, a Husqvarna motorcycle, holidays to Dubai, a Chanel women’s watch and properties in South Wales.
He wrote emails and invoices to himself and falsified quotes from real firms to hide his fraud from auditors.
Evill admitted he created fictional employees Paul Hewson and David Evans, the real names of U2 band members Bono and The Edge, to make the company look legitimate.
Some of the construction work, which included the children’s wing of Brecon Memorial Hospital, Bronllys Hospital and Welshpool Hospital, was later considered to have “major deficiencies”, with the total cost to the health board estimated to rise to £1,420,604.66 once remedial works have been completed.
Co-defendant and fellow project manager Robert Howells, 65, had pleaded guilty to fraud after he was accused of endorsing the George Morgan Ltd bids for work despite knowing Evill was secretly its sole director.
The third defendant, Michael Cope, 43, an NHS estate manager, was found guilty of fraud after he also endorsed Evill’s firm and received a £500 cheque as a gift.
Evill, from Earlswood Road, Shire Newton, and Howells, from Sedbury, Chepstow and Cope, from Garden City, Merthyr Tydfil have been told they must serve at least half of their sentence.
Efforts will now be made to recover the money.
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