A man who stole over £500,000 from the NHS through fraudulent invoices spent the money on his lavish lifestyle and tried to use his dead wife’s email account to cover his tracks. 

Thomas Elrick, 56, was assistant managing director for planned and unscheduled care at Harrow Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) where he had the authority to approve invoices up to £50,000. 

Between August 2018 and December 2020 he authorised payments totalling £564,484 to a company called Tree of Andre Therapy Services Limited. 

The company was registered in Scotland under Elrick’s husband’s name and the money was paid into a bank account registered to himself. 

He was the sole approver of the invoices and no services were delivered for the CCG by Tree of Andre. 

To cover up his scheme, an email was sent to Harrow CCG in June 2020 claiming to be from Tree of Andre, providing anonymised patient details where care was provided. 

The email was sent from the email address of Carolyn Platt, Elrick’s wife who died eight years previously. 

His fraudulent activities were revealed when a colleague queried invoices and found that Tree of Andre was not registered on the Care Quality Commission (CQC) website. 

Elrick’s home, in Motherwell, Scotland, was raided in November 2021 and he was arrested. 

When he was interviewed Elrick gave a full and frank account, admitting to committing fraud and that Tree of Andre was a ghost company. 

He said his husband did not know that he had used his name to register the company. 

The NHS Counter Fraud Authority said: “The money defrauded was used to enjoy the lifestyle he had become accustomed to and that he wanted more. The fraud had become an addiction and he was aware that he would be caught.” 

At Willesden Magistrates’ Court Elrick pleaded guilty to a charge of fraud by abuse of position. 

Elrick appeared at Harrow Crown Court for sentencing on July 6 but the case was adjourned for three weeks as he had no legal representation.