Eleanor Bonde (57), who faked her identity and invented dependent children to obtain a nursing place and NHS bursaries at Surrey University, was sentenced to 15 months’ imprisonment, suspended for two years at Guildford Crown Court.

Bonde pleaded guilty to three counts of fraud totalling £88,804, after an investigation by NHS Protect, which found she made three nursing course applications between 2001 and 2012 to the University of Surrey, the University of Brighton and Anglia Ruskin University.

She failed all three courses part-way through, so never became a nurse.

Efforts to locate Bonde in 2013 proved difficult, and she was eventually arrested by Surrey Police in September 2015. NHS Protect will now seek to recover the money.

A notice served at court requires her to provide details of all her assets.