Nigerian NHS Baby Scam Exposed

Still Here: Oluwaseun Adenubi

A pregnant Nigerian visitor's plan for her new-born baby - delivered at NHS expense - to be a British citizen was foiled after medical records proved the prospective UK passport holder parents were impostors.

Oluwaseun Adenubi, 30, used the passport of her friend, 32 year-old Rita Ogunkunle, to obtain free care and after the delivery the pal and her boyfriend Michael Adebambo, 46, registered the baby as theirs.

However, staff at Farnborough's Princess Royal University Hospital realised the medical records of the genuine Ogunkunle, who received acne treatment there, conflicted with the pregnant patient claiming to be her.

"The probation service think this is a Nigerian plot to use the 'International Health Service' and then take further advantage," announced Croydon Crown Court Judge John Tanzer. "The residency that comes with that and everything else."

Adenubi, who was granted a family visit visa which allows her to stay in the UK for up to six months, pleaded guilty to fraud by false representation against the hospital between April 19 and July 2, last year, namely dishonestly obtaining free medical treatment.

Ogunkunle and Adebambo, both of Clarendon Green, Orpington pleaded guilty to wilfully giving false information concerning the registration of a birth, namely reporting to be the parents of Moses Adenubi, at Bromley Civic Centre on July 1.

The offences, contrary to the 1911 Perjury Act, carry a maximum sentence of seven years 'penal servitude'.

Imposters: Rita Ogunkunle & Michael Adebambo

The couple have now fallen out with Adenubi, who claims she found Ogunkunle's passport on a bench, with the British citizen saying it was snatched from her home and used behind her back.

"The probation service are there to report what they have been told and they say they don't believe a word of it and bluntly neither do I," added Judge Tanzer, adjourning the case for a Newton Hearing, which will attempt to find the truth.

Prosecutor Miss Alexandra Bushell told the court: "Maybe there was a motivation to secure the nationality of the child as a British citizen and free NHS treatment.

"After the baby was born on June the thirtieth the staff realised something was not right because Ogunkunle has severe scarring, which the baby's mother did not have and there were two different blood types for the same patient."

The next day, both Ogunkunle and Adebambo turned up at Bromley Civic Centre and registered the birth as the child's parents and obtained an NHS number for the baby.

Ogunkunle was arrested on August 8 and claimed Adenubi took her passport after moving into her spare room.

"She admitted falsely registering the birth of the baby and said she had been introduced to Adenubi by a friend of her mother's and took pity on her because she was pregnant and had no friends.

"She told the police she was angry at Adenubi using her identity and tried to beat her to it by registering the child."

Adebambo was questioned in November. "He said his girlfriend asked him to go to the registry office to register a birth and said she told him she did not want another woman to use her identity.

"He said he did it out of love for his girlfriend and was very remorseful."

Adenubi was also questioned. "She claimed she was fleeing a violent partner in Nigeria and claimed to have no  family here and no contact with her family in Nigeria.

"She said she arrived with nowhere to go and met a Nigerian man at the airport and met others via a church, but had no details of those she stayed with.

"She claimed to have found Ogunkunle's passport on a bench in Orpington market and only used it to get free medical services."

All three defendants were bailed until a Newton Hearing date is fixed.