Emmanuel Nbanga
Introduction
Emmanuel Nbanga is a 46-year-old former NHS worker from Smith’s Wood, Solihull, who was jailed for eight years at Worcester Crown Court on Friday, 23 October 2026, after being found guilty of fraud by abuse of position and fraudulent trading. While employed at the Alexandra Hospital in Redditch, he stole medical supplies from the hospital’s operating theatres and sold them back to the same NHS trust that employed him — in some cases repeatedly — in a con that cost £279,000.
Background Information
Nbanga took supplies from the operating theatre stock rooms of Alexandra Hospital between October 2016 and September 2019, according to the NHS Counter Fraud Authority (NHSCFA). He channelled the stolen stock through Ultimate Medical (UK) Ltd, a company that sold the supplies back to Worcestershire Acute Hospitals NHS Trust.
The Controversy or Incident That Led to Their Cancellation
Convicted and sentenced for a £279,000 NHS supplies fraud.
The trust became suspicious after noticing unusually low prices for the medical supplies it was buying, and hospital staff then found that identification numbers on some deliveries matched those of its own previous orders — physical proof that the goods being sold back were the trust’s own stolen stock. The trust ultimately spent almost £233,000 buying back supplies that had been taken from its own storerooms.
The operation did not stop at resale. Ultimate Medical’s owner, Solomon Adeyemi, 57, from Birmingham, also supplied the trust with substandard warm-up jackets, needle containers and drug labels sourced from China; because the trust could not be assured of their quality and safety for use on patients, its existing stock was destroyed and replaced. An investigation found that money paid into Ultimate Medical’s business account was redirected to Lawyis Medical UK Ltd — a shell company set up by Remilekun Olusesi, 40, from Solihull, who the NHSCFA said worked as a healthcare assistant at Birmingham and Solihull Mental Health NHS Foundation Trust — and to personal accounts in the defendants’ names. More than £16,000 worth of stolen NHS stock was recovered during searches.
At Worcester Crown Court, Nbanga was jailed for eight years. Adeyemi was jailed for seven years for fraudulent trading at the same hearing, and Olusesi received a 30-month prison sentence, suspended for 36 months, for money laundering.
Public Reaction and Consequences
Ben Harrison, head of operations and engagement at the NHSCFA, said Nbanga “abused his trusted position to systematically steal vital medical stock and arrange for it to be sold back to the very trust he was employed by”. “The involvement of multiple individuals and two shell companies shows the calculated and organised nature of this fraud,” he said, noting that substandard and unsanitary goods entering hospital theatres posed a serious risk to patients.
Current Status
Nbanga is serving his eight-year sentence imposed on 23 October 2026. He was employed at the Alexandra Hospital before the fraud was discovered; the conviction for fraud by abuse of position closes any return to NHS employment, and the case stands as one of the more brazen healthcare procurement frauds investigated by the NHSCFA — a trust unknowingly repurchasing its own property.
Impact on Their Career/Life
Nbanga’s eight-year sentence exceeds that of the company owner who ran the resale operation, reflecting his position inside the hospital: the fraud required an employee with access to theatre stock rooms and knowledge of what the trust ordered. The scheme also degraded patient safety in ways beyond the £279,000 figure, forcing the destruction and replacement of existing supplies because their quality could not be assured.
Sources
- BBC News, “Fraudsters jailed for £279,000 con at Redditch hospital.” source