Woman claimed to serve in Afghanistan, court heard

Earlier in the trial, the court heard Ms Nasir was not a member of the Army or the Army Reserves.

She tried to join in 2010 and 2015, but was unsuccessful.

When asked for her military service number, Ms Nasir, who claimed to have served for 16 years and retired with the rank of Captain, initially told investigators: “I can’t remember it off the top of my head.”

The Army confirmed she had been an adult volunteer with the Army Cadets, but she had never been deployed overseas.

Ms Nasir told Beverley Jones, local counter fraud specialist investigator for Swansea Bay Health Board, that she served in a field hospital in Helmand Province “north of Camp Bastion” and used her annual leave to serve.

When asked by Mrs Jones for details of her military career, she said: “Why, what has that to do with my NHS?

“I’m not comfortable with answering questions about my military… a lot of people get into trouble.”

Later, Ms Nasir explained she could in fact remember her service number, and told Mrs Jones it came under the Army Cadets.

In a second interview in June 2021 with Neil Jones, the senior local counter fraud investigator for Swansea Bay Health Board, Ms Nasir said she had been deployed in Kosovo as an Army Reserve volunteer.

Challenging her, Mr Jones said: “You were never an Army volunteer – there is no such thing – is that correct?

The court heard Ms Nasir disagreed.