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<\/p>\nFour people from North East face prosecution following investigation into vaccine passports<\/p>\n
A negative Covid-19 test sits on top of a Passport for the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. (Image: PA)<\/p>\n
Four people from the North East including one from Middlesbrough man has been charged over the fraudulent sale of Covid 19 vaccination records during the pandemic. The move follows a joint National Crime Agency (NCA) and NHS<\/a> England investigation into the creation and online sale of the fake records.<\/p>\n Shahid Hussain, 33, from Middlesbrough<\/a>, Ian Taylor, 42, and Abbey-Leigh Coates, 25, both from Darlington<\/a>, and Christopher Thompson, 36, from Horden, near Hartlepool<\/a>, were arrested by NCA officers in early 2022 and 2023.<\/p>\n The investigation relates to the creation of 1,168 fraudulent records between June 2021 and January 2022, some of which were generated at a health centre in Darlington. These were allegedly sold to members of the public, which made in excess of \u00a3200,000, the agency says.<\/p>\n During the pandemic, unvaccinated individuals paid for legitimate vaccine passport records which were obtained from online marketplaces illegally. It is suspected that organised criminals recruited healthcare professionals to produce the fraudulent records.<\/p>\n This allowed unvaccinated people to travel when others were subject to restrictions. The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) has authorised charges for all four individuals, relating to alleged offences under the Computer Misuse Act and Fraud Act. They are due to appear at Peterlee Magistrates\u2019 Court on Monday (March 2).<\/p>\n Deputy Director Paul Foster, Head of the NCA\u2019s National Cyber Crime Unit, said: “Receiving a vaccine is a personal choice, but abuse of our healthcare system to enable unvaccinated individuals to bypass restrictions that are in place to protect the British public is illegal.<\/p>\n “Working in close partnership with the NHS England Counter Fraud Team, this investigation helped to secure the safety of our communities by preventing organised criminality from undermining the national pandemic response and benefitting financially from the damaging service provided.”<\/p>\n Did you know you can make Teesside Live a preferred source of Teesside news in Google, which will mean you get more of our breaking news, exclusives, and must-read stories straight away? Here’s more information<\/a> about what this means and how to do it – you can also do it by clicking here<\/a>.<\/p>\n