Skip to content
Support Us

We need your help now

Support from readers like you keeps The Journal open.

You are visiting us because we have something you value. Independent, unbiased news that tells the truth. Advertising revenue goes some way to support our mission, but this year it has not been enough.

If you've seen value in our reporting, please contribute what you can, so we can continue to produce accurate and meaningful journalism. For everyone who needs it.

Shutterstock/ldutko

Ever lied on your CV? This NHS executive on £100k a year said he had two PhDs (he hadn't)

Jon Andrewes was sentenced to two years in jail at Exeter Crown Court today.

IN 2014, A survey from Irish employers said that two-thirds of them had been sent CVs that contained lies.

Far from simply meaning that you don’t get the job, in this case, a British man who made false claims of expertise on his resumé has been sentenced to serve time in prison.

Today, 63-year-old man Jon Andrewes was jailed for two years at Exeter Crown Court after admitting that he lied on his CV.

Andrewes claimed to have two PhDs, including one in ethics, and a master’s degree, even though he only had a higher education diploma in social work and a teaching qualification.

For over 10 years, he held senior roles in the NHS on the back of his false qualifications, which included chairman of the Royal Cornwall hospital trust and chief executive of St Margaret’s hospice in Taunton.

Using this deception, he managed to earn more than £1 million in these senior NHS management roles before his retirement in 2015, the Guardian reports.

Andrewes said he had a PhD in ethics management from Plymouth University, a PhD in business administration from Heriot-Watt University in Edinburgh, a master’s from the University of Edinburgh and a degree from the University of Bristol.

Sentencing him today, Judge Geoffrey Mercer QC told Andrewes: “For a period of over 10 years your outwardly prestigious life was based upon a lie, a series of staggering lies, repeated lies about your education, and employment background and your experience, lies by which you obtained responsible positions.”

The judge added that Andrewes wouldn’t have held these roles without these false claims, and that he had caused damage to the public confidence in the organisations he worked in.

The 63-year-old admitted two counts of fraud and one count of obtaining a pecuniary advantage by deception.

Ros Collins, defending, said that Andrewes regretted his “sheer stupidity”.

She said: “These things happen where people inflate their CV out of desperation to get work”.

It is believed an internal NHS investigation is underway to determine how Andrewes got these senior jobs in the first place.

Read: 15% of workers in Galway hospitality sector say they have been sexually abused

Read: Enda Kenny says babies at Tuam home were treated like ‘some kind of sub-species’

Readers like you are keeping these stories free for everyone...
A mix of advertising and supporting contributions helps keep paywalls away from valuable information like this article. Over 5,000 readers like you have already stepped up and support us with a monthly payment or a once-off donation.

Close
51 Comments
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Brian Dunne
    Favourite Brian Dunne
    Report
    Feb 1st 2021, 6:36 PM

    The trial of the Chicago 7 on netflix is brilliant.

    82
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute David Dineen
    Favourite David Dineen
    Report
    Feb 1st 2021, 7:01 PM

    @Brian Dunne: hi hó hi hó it’s off to Netflix I go… I’m coming bac to review your review

    25
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute offtheball
    Favourite offtheball
    Report
    Feb 1st 2021, 7:11 PM

    The Imitation Game is a brill movie!! If you haven’t already it’s def worth a watch!

    81
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Jane Alford
    Favourite Jane Alford
    Report
    Feb 1st 2021, 8:42 PM

    The Imitation Game is really good.

    28
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Miss T
    Favourite Miss T
    Report
    Feb 1st 2021, 11:44 PM

    Not a movie but ‘it’s a sin’ on All4 is bloody brilliant. One of the best things I’ve seen on tv in a long time and excellent 80s soundtrack as a bonus.

    13
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Eugene Norman
    Favourite Eugene Norman
    Report
    Feb 1st 2021, 7:52 PM

    The last paradiso seems like it’s referencing or paying homage to another Italian movie, but I can’t think of it now.

    5
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Daniel Murray
    Favourite Daniel Murray
    Report
    Feb 1st 2021, 8:38 PM

    @Eugene Norman: can’t tell if you’re being sarcastic. Cinema Paradiso.

    14
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Maria Cennerazzo
    Favourite Maria Cennerazzo
    Report
    Feb 1st 2021, 8:52 PM

    @Eugene Norman: Cinema Paradiso I think, but the story is totally different.

    7
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Lemonwilly
    Favourite Lemonwilly
    Report
    Feb 2nd 2021, 6:40 AM

    Now you’re just trolling

    1
Submit a report
Please help us understand how this comment violates our community guidelines.
Thank you for the feedback
Your feedback has been sent to our team for review.