Crime Solicitors

An accounts administrator who embezzled more than £600,000 from the Royal Marsden Cancer Hospital has been jailed for four years.

Stacey Tipler, 32, and her fiancé Scott Chaplin, 33, masterminded the fraud and diverted £642,000 from the Royal Marsden to their own accounts. Approximately half of the money is thought to be hidden and has not been traced.

The fraud also involved six others who were also sentenced at Southwark Crown Court in southeast London on Tuesday (29/07/14).

The court heard that the deception could have put the lives of cancer patients at risk, as the money Tipler embezzled was diverted from funds intended to pay pharmaceutical companies for cancer drugs. Some of the companies were threatening to withdraw supplies of drugs as a result of not having been paid, the court heard.

Tipler had worked for the Royal Marsden for 10 years and began diverting money from the hospital’s accounts by substituting the account numbers of pharma companies awaiting payment with those of gang members, who then received the funds.

The couple used the money to pay their mortgage and pay a £3,000 deposit for their lavish wedding – their accomplices spent the money on luxury goods and Tipler amassed a collection of high-end designer handbags.

The money diverted from the cancer centre’s accounts was paid into accounts controlled by the gang her partner recruited, the court was told – Chaplin was described in court as the “main instigator” of the fraud.

Judge Anthony Leonard QC told the court that the fraud was “highly professional” and “brilliant”.

“I’ve not seen a better one, frankly, in the course of dealing with quite a few years of fraud,” he said.

The fraud was uncovered after staff at one of the Royal Marsden’s suppliers advised the hospital of problems with receiving payment for cancer drugs.

Had suppliers stopped providing the hospital with cancer drugs, many patients could have had their treatment for cancer stopped, the court was told.

Even when the hospital contracted out its payments system to a different company, Tipler was able to continue the fraud because the gang’s account numbers were automatically set up on the new company’s system.

Tipler had claimed that she has been under duress to commit the fraud, but Judge Leonard dismissed her claims.

At a trial in June, Tipler and Chaplin were found guilty of conspiracy to defraud and Chaplin was also convicted of conspiracy to launder money. On Tuesday, he was sentenced to five-and-a-half years in jail.

Six other accomplices recruited by Chaplin pleaded guilty to money laundering and were jailed or received suspended sentences of between nine weeks and 21 months.

Duncan Lewis Fraud Solicitors

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For expert legal advice on fraud charges and representation, contact Duncan Lewis fraud solicitors on 020 7923 4020.