Craig Alexander was “in charge of a budget worth millions”

EXCLUSIVE

»A convicted armed robber has been working as a director for NHS Brent – overseeing multi million pound budgets.

Craig Alexander was dismissed from his post as interim borough director for NHS Brent last week after it was revealed that he had robbed a Tesco express store and threatened two cashiers at gunpoint, earning him a three-and-a-half year jail term in 2007, the Times can reveal.

His role was allegedly only terminated after a member of staff searched for his name online after complaining of his rudeness.

Since January 2012, Alexander had been in charge of Brent’s Quality, Innovation, Productivity and Prevention (QIPP) budgets.

Shocking

According to his profile on social networking site LinkedIn, Alexander was “an experienced turnaround and operations director working at both strategic and operational level.”

During his time in the position, Mr Alexander is believed to have earned around £1,000 a day.

A former colleague told the Times: “He was in charge of the entire QIPP budget which ran into millions. It is shocking that for a senior member of staff in charge of budget issues, no checks were done and that it took a member of staff to find out about his past and report it.

“He has been at Brent over a year and was a big bully. Everyone was scared of him. You get in his way and you are sacked. There had been many complaints about Craig to the executive team but nothing was done about it.”

A NHS Brent spokesman said: “The person concerned was provided through an agency. We have terminated our contract for failing to disclose a criminal conviction.”

In the 2001 robber, Alexander escaped with £1,140 in cash and cheques worth around £90. The money and cheques were recovered but he was not jailed until 2007 after being arrested for a separate offence.

A DNA sample was linked to fingerprints found on a firearm, dumped near the scene. He pleaded guilty to armed robbery at Guildford Crown Court in September 2007.