- Author, Colette Hume
- Role, BBC News
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A mug on Tanya Nasir’s desk bore the slogan: “The World’s Best Nurse.”
It was a big claim, but the 45-year-old was no stranger to making such statements about her experience, qualifications and life.
The mother-of-two, from Rickmansworth, Hertfordshire, joined the Princess of Wales Hospital in Bridgend as a ward manager in September 2019.
She held a management position in the neonatal unit where she cared for sick and premature babies. Four months later, she was suspended and two days before a disciplinary hearing in November 2020, she resigned.
In January 2020, a pediatric director noticed a problem with her Nursing and Midwifery Council number.
On her job application, she said she graduated as a nurse in 2010, but the code began with “13.” That meant she graduated in the 2013-14 fiscal year.
Director Sian Townsend went through his CV and application to see if there were any other lies. There were.
Nasir claimed to be a neonatal nurse who spent five years at the Chelsea and Westminster Hospital in London.
She said she had been a combat medic, had worked around the world in the military and humanitarian fields, and had worked with Oxfam and the Red Cross.
Her children’s school and practice thought she was a doctor, while others thought she was a captain and major.
Her friends believed she was vital to the army’s Covid response in Wales. Her colleagues learned she knew child murderer Myra Hindley.
While Nasir was studying for her adult nursing degree at Buckingham New University in 2010, she appeared in court to admit four counts of benefit fraud.
A staff member spotted a hearing report and was summoned to a disciplinary hearing. He was asked why his conviction had not been disclosed.
She provided a fake probation letter stating that she did not have to inform the university.
Image source, Gareth Everett Huw Evans Agency
She accepted the explanation and continued with the class.
When she applied for a job in Bridgend, Nasir had a long and false CV.
She claimed to have experience in intensive care, emergency medicine and children’s palliative care. She invented qualifications, several degrees, said she had led platoons of 250 men and extracted VIPs from war zones.
When his home in Brecon was searched after his arrest in April 2021, bundles of fake certificates were discovered.
She worked in the neonatal unit at Hillingdon Hospital in London. The hospital said it had reviewed all issues surrounding the case and “has rigorous protocols for patient care and employment, which we continually evaluate and improve.”
Investigators then told Nasir they had evidence from HMRC that she had not worked at Chelsea and Westminster Hospital.
She said there was no tax record because she had volunteered for five years.
In court, she insisted: “This is my life as I have lived it… all the information in my application forms is correct.”
In his application for admission to the Princess of Wales Hospital, Nasir detailed references who could be contacted by email.
One of them was a “senior matron” Nasir claimed to have worked with at Hillingdon Hospital, named Maureen Westphal. The other was an armed forces officer, Major Matthew Nash-Yearwood.
When questioned by fraud investigators, they said they were unaware they had been appointed as referees and had not provided any references.
The Princess of Wales Hospital did have a reference from Mrs Westphal’s email account at Hillingdon Hospital. But it had been written after she had left Hillingdon: the account had not been closed, so Nasir took it over. Meanwhile, a reference apparently from Major Nash-Yearwood came from his own email address.
Born and raised in Hertfordshire, Nasir lived with her mother and stepfather.
She told the court she had fled an abusive relationship with her son and daughter and lived in a refuge before deciding to become a nurse and moving to Wales in the summer of 2019.
When presented with proof that she had not served in the military, she refused to accept it. But when asked to remember her eight-digit service number, she could not.
She sent photos of herself in uniform to friends. One of them was apparently taken in Kenya, although it shows a British-looking garage.
Asked how she got to Afghanistan, she did not mention flying from an RAF base, but said she could have flown from Heathrow or Gatwick.
On the witness stand, she seemed shocked that anyone would challenge her version of events.
Her lawyer told the jury that no one had ever complained about her work and that no children had suffered because of her.
Those who worked with Nasir said she had a confident air.
When the Princess of Wales Hospital interview panel appointed her to the role of neonatal ward manager in the summer of 2019, they thought they had appointed a qualified and experienced nurse.
They had appointed a fanatic and a liar.
Throughout his trial, his former colleagues from Hillingdon and Bridgend sat quietly in the small public gallery of Courtroom 9.
Sometimes they cried when they heard the evidence.
“We thought she was one of us,” one said. “But she wasn’t.”
