UK: Jail for Zimbabwean nurse who faked husband death and claimed £400 000 insurance

A UK based Zimbabwean nurse has been sentenced to two years probation and 100 hours of community service following an audacious attempt at insurance fraud. The nurse tried to claim almost £ 400,000. (US$ 554,000) by faking her husband’s death.  

51-year-old Thuile Bhebhe claimed that her husband had died in Zimbabwe in August 2016 and attempted to get life insurance worth £397,153 from Aviva. She submitted fake documents, including a forged death certificate which showed that her husband had purportedly died in Nkayi, Matabeleland North. During an interview, she also claimed that she had attended the funeral.

However, discrepancies in the paperwork submitted by Bhebhe raised Aviva’s suspicions, leading them to carry out further enquiries into the case.

Investigations established that Bhebhe’s husband was alive and well, and in fact, working his shift as a nurse at a London hospital on the day he was alleged to have died.

Bhebhe was sentenced at Inner London Crown Court on 15 March 2021, to two years’ imprisonment suspended for two years and 100 hours of community service, with a twenty-five-day Rehabilitation Activity Requirement.

Bhebhe pleaded guilty at the City of London Magistrates Court in November 2018.

Detective Constable James Rafiq, from the City of London Police’s Insurance Fraud Enforcement Department, said:

Mrs Bhebhe tried to exploit Aviva and steal nearly £400,000 by shamelessly claiming her husband had died.

Although she has shown remorse, these fraudulent actions have tainted years of commendable work as NHS nurses for both her and her husband.