A FORMER finance chief who defrauded the NHS has been ordered to pay back more than £2m.

Trevor Barry Cosson, 38, of Tenterden Rise, Hastings, is currently serving a five-year sentence following an NHS Protect fraud investigation.

At Blackfriars Crown Court in London yesterday, Judge Henry Blacksell confiscated £2,161,758.45 from Cosson, which must be paid in compensation to the NHS.

It is the largest the NHS Protect has ever recovered under the terms of the Proceeds of Crime Act (2002).

Cosson was sentenced at the same court in July 2014 after admitting offences under the proceeds of crime act and the Fraud Act (2006).

He fiddled payments from two Sussex NHS trusts so cash went into his bank accounts.

He used the money, which he amassed during a four-year period, to build up a property empire in St Leonards and London. Cosson worked as the head of financial accounting for the now disbanded Rother Primary Care Trust (PCT) and East Sussex Downs and Weald PCT.

He set up standing orders to regular suppliers but manipulated invoices so the payments from the trust went into his bank accounts.

Between 2008 and 2011, Cosson authorised £810,000 in standing order payments, and £1.4 million of payments between 2011 and 2012 via an internal payments system.

The fraud was only discovered when the two PCTs he worked for were disbanded and another – Sussex and Surrey Commissioning Support Unit – created.

Suspicious payments of hundreds of thousands of pounds were found in an end-of-year audit and NHS Protect – the organisation’s crime fighting unit – was brought in.

The money was used to build up a portfolio of 11 properties in St Leonards and London which Cosson will now have to sell.

NHS Protect head of external engagement and services, Richard Hampton, said: “Today is a good day for taxpayers and NHS patients.

“Cosson’s staggering dishonesty and greed has really let down the vast majority of NHS workers – most of whom do hard, honest work for a lot less money than he was paid.

“Leading the national fight against crime in the health service, NHS Protect plays a vital role in the NHS. We are unique in having the expertise not only to investigate fraud but also to mount financial investigations under the Proceeds of Crime Act to claw back money that has been defrauded from the NHS.”