Man convicted of fraud claimed to have worked in same hospital as George Clooney

Published on Tuesday 9 February 2010 22:01

HE boasted of thriving in the chaos of a US emergency room where his colleagues included none other than George Clooney.

• Spot the difference: Greig Ferguson and George Clooney. Pictures: Complimentary

But a Stirlingshire man who embellished his CV by claiming he had qualified at Chicago's County General Hospital, the setting for the TV series ER, has now been convicted of fraud.

Police say 35-year-old Greig Ferguson, originally from Bonnybridge, was a "fantasist" infatuated with the idea of following in the footsteps of Dr Doug Ross, Clooney's role on the US show.

For more than a year, his deceit went unnoticed, as he paraded around with a badge marked "Dr Greig Ferguson MD". Only when a consultant became suspicious was he found out, with an inquiry by NHS fraud investigators revealing a litany of lies.

Ferguson told The Scotsman last night that he regretted his actions. "Inflating my CV beyond the post I went for was a daft thing to do," he said. "But there were ongoing issues from my past that caught up with me and what I did was down to low self esteem.

"If I had the chance again, I wouldn't have done what I did."

The father-of-one qualified as a nurse from Portsmouth University eight years ago, but when he applied for the post of emergency nurse practitioner at Portsmouth's St Mary's Treatment Centre, he also claimed to have worked as a medic with the Royal Marines in Bosnia, the Gulf, and Northern Ireland. In fact, he had only been employed as a nurse in Gosport.

He worked at the minor injuries unit of St Mary's from September 2007 until October 2008. Doubts over his pedigree emerged when he was treated by a consultant, who grew suspicious and informed Ferguson's employer, Care UK, a private health provider.

Despite being sacked for gross misconduct, Ferguson later won a job as a nurse at the private Spire Hospital in Southampton, where he worked nightshifts from September 2008 until Christmas Eve when they became aware of his deception.

He pleaded guilty on Monday to two charges of fraud at Portsmouth Crown Court.

His barrister, Robert Bryant, compared him to Jeffrey Archer, the Tory MP jailed in 2001 for perjury . Addressing Judge Roger Hetherington, he said: "I know not whether your honour is, or was, ever a devotee of a certain Channel 4 drama but the hospital on his CV in Chicago was the hospital starring in ER."

Ferguson, who has returned to Scotland to work as a handyman, was ordered to carry out 150 hours' community service. Outside court, Detective Sergeant Richard Wheeler, of Portsmouth CID, said

Ferguson was something of a fantasist Det Sgt Wheeler said: "He obviously watched ER and he may have fallen in love with the idea of being an ER doctor ."