A nursing student used fake immigration documents to con more than £15,000 out of the NHS, a court was told.

Succeed Mangava, 36, began a three-year nursing diploma course at Brighton University in February last year.

She applied for a bursary and tuition fees, claiming she had indefinite leave to remain in the UK.

She produced a forged Home Office letter dated in 2000 to back up her claim, Hove Crown Court was told.

Her status was checked after a tip-off to the NHS fraud line and it was discovered she had entered the UK as a visitor for six months in 2002.

Mangava was eventually granted asylum in December, allowing her to stay in the country until December 2014.

She was arrested for fraud by Sussex Police at her home in Swanley, Kent, in May.

Mangava admitted forgery and retaining a wrongful credit and was given a 12-month prison sentence suspended for two years on Friday.

Nicole McLaughlin, of the NHS Counter Fraud Service, said: “We will follow up any fraud against the NHS that is reported to us.

“The sentence will act as a deterrent to others who might do the same as Mangava at the expense of legitimate candidates for bursaries and training places.”