Dr Olubunmi Adeagbo-Sheikh confessed the fraud to his mother and was dragged down to the local mosque to be put on cleaning duties
A doctor who invented a fake landlord to claim £12,000 in housing benefits has been struck off the medical register. The General Medical Council (GMC) said Dr Olubunmi Adeagbo-Sheikh’s conduct was “fundamentally incompatible” with keeping him on the register but stopped short of ordering an immediate erasure.
They said the doctor, who worked in various posts at King’s College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust from 2022 to December 2024, posed no risk to patient safety and he could continue working until the order came into effect later this month. If he appeals, the clinician can continue to practise unrestricted until a decision is handed down.
In October, a medical tribunal struck Dr Adeagbo-Sheikh off the register saying it was the “only necessary and proportionate sanction” to maintain public confidence in the medical profession, according to a Medical Practitioners Tribunal Service report.
They also said the Nigeria-born doctor’s seven-week delay in telling the GMC he had been charged with a criminal offence amounted to misconduct, but not serious misconduct. They said he deliberately chose to commit fraud and would have likely continued had he not been caught.
The report read: “Despite the remorse and genuine apology by Dr Adeagbo-Sheikh for his actions and the arguments put forward cogently by [his lawyer] Mr Gledhill, erasure was the only necessary and proportionate sanction which would sufficiently and adequately promote and maintain public confidence in the medical profession and promote and maintain proper professional standards and conduct for members of that profession.”
Dr Adeagbo-Sheikh, who completed a BSc in Medical Biology from Brunel University of London, invented a fake landlord and bogus tenancy agreement to claim nearly £11,700 in housing benefit for a flat that didn’t even exist between September 2018 and September 2019, according to the report. He was a medical student at the time.
He was arrested in October 2019 and charged with dishonestly making a false statement to obtain a benefit in December 2023. He pleaded guilty at Westminster Magistrates’ Court in January 2024 and was sentenced to a 12-month Community Order with 100 hours of unpaid work the following month.
Dr Adeagbo-Sheikh has since repaid the amount he took in full and completed his community service in “good time”, according to the tribunal.
The GMC moved to erase Dr Adeagbo-Sheikh from the medical register on the grounds his conviction and misconduct impaired his fitness to practise. During a hearing in October, the Nigeria and UK-educated doctor said he took full responsibility for his actions and was deeply remorseful for what happened.
He said he took the money to be independent and didn’t want to ask his family for help. He said he intended to stop claiming benefits when he started work and said the events took place before he registered with the GMC and that he was now a “mature man”.
‘Isolated lapse in judgement’
He said he provided the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) with a fake address so it could not be checked and so his benefits could continue for as long as possible. Dr Adeagbo-Sheikh told the tribunal he did not spend a large part of the money he falsely claimed but did not pay it back earlier as it was “already mixed up with his savings”, the tribunal report shows.
He said his actions tarnished his professional reputation and amounted to an “isolated lapse in judgement”. The medical professional said he was struggling with personal matters at the time of the fraud, which he believes led to his poor judgement.
He also blamed other matters, which were shared behind closed doors due to their confidential nature. Dr Adeagbo-Sheikh said he didn’t know he had to tell GMC he had been charged and said he was “sincerely regretful and ashamed” about the mix-up.
The tribunal said it believed Dr Adeagbo-Sheikh was genuinely sorry for his actions but questioned whether he had truly learned from the ordeal. They said most of the doctor’s remediation work, which included courses and training, took place from late 2024 onwards, despite being caught in 2019. They also said an apology letter sent to the tribunal appeared to have been written using Artificial Intelligence (AI).
Dr Adeagbo-Sheikh claimed “85%” of the letter was his own and that he had used AI to provide a layout. The tribunal said it appeared the doctor wrote just four to five pages of the 16-page document.
The tribunal also heard from multiple witnesses who said Dr Adeagbo-Sheikh had learned from his mistakes and was sorry. It also heard how the doctor confessed to his mother and was dragged down to the local mosque to be put on cleaning duties.
It heard how Dr Adeagbo-Sheikh created a fake CV and failed to list a job he had between 2005 and 2013 as voluntary work. The doctor said he never used the CV but shared it with people running a CV writing course.
The tribunal noted the large number of testimonials supporting Dr Adeagbo-Sheikh but said the doctor did not properly reflect on his actions until November 2024. The tribunal wrote: “The tribunal determined that Dr Adeagbo-Sheikh has shown some evidence of insight but again he is at an early stage in that process.
“The tribunal accepted that Dr Adeagbo-Sheikh pleaded guilty to the offence and expressed remorse to the court. He has taken ownership of his wrongdoing and has not tried to shift the blame to others.
“However, given that much of Dr Adeagbo-Sheikh’s reflection and remediation is fairly recent, it is difficult at this point for the tribunal to say that he has full insight, or that his actions will not be repeated.”
‘Reprehensible in itself’
Dr Adeagbo-Sheikh applied for Universal Credit in 2018 and received £900 a month for rent. The address he gave was fake and the tenancy agreement was also bogus, according to the report. The doctor received 13 payments in total.
When he was arrested in October 2019, police seized his laptop and found WhatsApp messages with a friend along with three fake tenancy agreements and a bogus CV which referred to setting up the fraud.
Dr Adeagbo-Sheikh said he created a fictitious address so that no correspondence would have been received by a genuine resident who may have raised alarm.
He also said he chose to provide the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) with a fake address so it could not be checked and his benefits continue for as long as possible. Dr Adeagbo-Sheikh was contacted for comment.
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