NHS director on £250,000 sacked from his job after disgruntled worker discovered he had robbed a shop at gunpoint

Craig Alexander, 32, has lost his £250,000 NHS job after it was discovered he had been convicted of armed robbery in 2007

An NHS chief has been sacked from his £250,000-a-year job after it emerged that he was a convicted armed robber.
Craig Alexander, 32, was working as interim borough director for NHS Brent, in north-west London, when it was discovered he had been jailed for three and a half years in September 2007 for holding up a shop at gunpoint and threatening two cashiers.
Alexander, of Walton, Surrey, was trapped by DNA evidence which linked him to the firearm six years after he robbed the Tesco Express store in 2001.
After he was freed from prison he failed to disclose his conviction and managed to land a top six-figure job in the health service.
By the time he was exposed he was managing and overseeing multi-million pound taxpayer-funded budgets and was thought to be earning about £250,000 a year.
It is believed he was found out when a colleague looked him up online after he was rude at work.
Alexander was in charge of Brent's Quality, Innovation, Productivity and Prevention (QIPP) budgets.
A former colleague, who did not want to be named, said the contracted agency employee pocketed £1,000 a day during his 17 months in the job.
QIPP is intended to be a resource for everyone in the NHS, public health and social care for making decisions about patient care or the use of resources.
A former colleague told the Brent & Kilburn Times: 'He was in charge of the entire QIPP budget for the trust - which runs into millions.
'He has been at Brent over a year.

'It is very shocking that for a senior member of staff and in charge of budget issues no checks were done before he took up his position and it took a member of staff to find out about his past and report it to the executive team.'
A spokesman for NHS Brent said: 'The person concerned was provided through a staffing agency.
'We have now terminated our contract with the individual from the agency for failing to disclose a criminal conviction.'

Alexander was working as interim borough director for NHS Brent, in north-west London, when his conviction was discovered. Pictured is NHS Brent's Wembley Centre for Health and Care

Alexander, who had held his senior post since January 2012, stole £1,140 cash and cheques worth £89.97 after he robbed his local Tesco shop in Byfleet, Woking, on October 12, 2001.
He was just 20 when he targeted the outlet.
The money and cheques were later discovered.

'It is very shocking that for a senior member of staff and in charge of budget issues no checks were done before he took up his position and it took a member of staff to find out about his past and report it to the executive team'

- A former colleague of Craig Alexander 

But Alexander escaped justice for six years and was carving out a successful career in the NHS when he was arrested for a separate offence.
Police took his DNA and quickly linked him to fingerprints found on a gun dumped near the Tesco hold-up.
Further tests were then conducted on clothing recovered from the scene, including a stocking which had been used as a mask.
Saliva on the stocking was also matched to Alexander.
He admitted armed robbery at Guildford Crown Court in September 2007 and was jailed for three and a half years.
Alexander threatened two cashiers in the store, telling them to hand over cash from the till, and pointed the weapon at customers as he ordered them to get out.

Alexander stole £1,140 cash and cheques worth £89.97 after he robbed the Tesco Express in Byfleet, Woking, on October 12, 2001

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