Woman claimed to serve in Afghanistan, court hears

Tanya Nasir claimed she had previously served in Afghanistan and reached the rank of Captain in the British Army

A woman accused of lying about her qualifications for a senior nursing job in a neonatal unit said she had served in an army field hospital in Helmand Province, Afghanistan.

Tanya Nasir, 45, said she had worked "500 metres from the front line" and was a Colour Sergeant.

She claimed to have reached the rank of Captain and served in the field hospital in what she called "Helmith" and "Helmet" province in 2010.

Ms Nasir, from Rickmansworth, Hertfordshire, faces nine counts of fraud and fraud by false representation but denies all the charges.

The jury at Cardiff Crown Court heard transcripts of interviews with NHS investigators following her arrest in April 2021.

Ms Nasir, who was a Band 7 ward manager at the neonatal ward in the Princess of Wales Hospital in Bridgend, was suspended after four months following concerns about her CV in February 2020.

An internal investigation began but the hospital was told she could not attend a planned hearing.

She told hospital managers at the time of the meeting she would be away in the Indian Ocean island of Diego Garcia, a British Island territory for an Army Reserves annual training camp.

But in a later interview with investigators, she said the training camp was cancelled because of Covid.

She resigned two days before a disciplinary hearing in November 2020.

'Can't remember'

Earlier in the trial, the court heard Ms Nasir was not a member of the Army or the Army Reserves.

She tried to join in 2010 and 2015, but was unsuccessful.

When asked for her military service number, Ms Nasir, who claimed to have served for 16 years and retired with the rank of Captain, initially told investigators: "I can't remember it off the top of my head."

The Army confirmed she had been an adult volunteer with the Army Cadets, but she had never been deployed overseas.

Ms Nasir told Beverley Jones, local counter fraud specialist investigator for Swansea Bay Health Board, that she served in a field hospital in Helmand Province "north of Camp Bastion" and used her annual leave to serve.

When asked by Mrs Jones for details of her military career, she said: "Why, what has that to do with my NHS?

"I'm not comfortable with answering questions about my military... a lot of people get into trouble."

Later, Ms Nasir explained she could in fact remember her service number, and told Mrs Jones it came under the Army Cadets.

In a second interview in June 2021 with Neil Jones, the senior local counter fraud investigator for Swansea Bay Health Board, Ms Nasir said she had been deployed in Kosovo as an Army Reserve volunteer.

Challenging her, Mr Jones said: "You were never an Army volunteer - there is no such thing - is that correct?

The court heard Ms Nasir disagreed.

Mr Jones asked her where she flew to Kosovo from, which unit she was assigned to, who her Commanding Officer was and how long she was deployed for.

To which she replied to each question: "I don't know."

Ms Nasir also claimed to have been deployed to Sudan in 2006, where she claimed to have served with 7 Rifles, but she could not remember which platoon she had been attached to.

In 2008 she said she had been deployed to Iraq and the southern city of Basra as what she described as a "volunteer with the Ministry of Defence".

Ms Nasir had a daughter who would have been two or three years old in 2001.

Mr Jones asked her who looked after the little girl during her deployment.

She said: "Who looked after my daughter? Probably someone I trust."

Pressed by Mr Jones, she said the child was cared for by her former partner.

He challenged her again on her claim that she was deployed in Afghanistan in 2010.

Ms Nasir said: "It was part of the Salvation Army, that's all I have to say."

She told the court she was based one and half hour outside Helmand.

"I was with the red crescent people, there were a group outside Helmith." she said.

The trial continues.