TWO money launderers have been sentenced to 12 months each for their part in a £580,000 fraud of the NHS.

Unemployed Elizabeth Adekunle, aged 41, of Springfield Grove, Charlton, and unemployed Olukemi Hassan, aged 46, of Beckenham Hill Road, Bellingham, pleaded guilty to money laundering at Southwark Crown Court on Friday.

In total eight defendants were sentenced following their involvement in the fraud of King's College Hospital NHS Trust between 1999 and 2003.

Kehinde Ayinde Owuru, 51, of Clapham Road Estate, was also sentenced to 12 months.

Five defendants pleaded guilty and were sentenced on February 24:

Adewunmi Ogundimu, aged 46, of Delancey Street, London, pleaded guilty to money laundering offences and got nine months' imprisonment.

Kevin Barry McCourt, aged 45, of Great Cambridge Road, Edmonton, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to defraud and received nine months' imprisonment suspended for two years.

Joy Vivienne Henry, aged 47, of South Norwood Hill, South Norwood, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to defraud and was sentenced to four years' imprisonment.

Onyechi Amobi, aged 41, of Bennington Close, Luton, pleaded guilty to money laundering offences and received a sentence of nine months.

Pitan Osunkoya, aged 30, of no fixed abode, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to defraud and received nine months' imprisonment.

Officers were first alerted to the fraud in 2003 when finance staff at the trust became suspicious of Joy Henry, then office manager of the staff bank.

Identities for 10 'phantom' administrative employees were uncovered, with the electronic trail leading back to Henry.

In addition to falsely creating employee records, Henry had authorised payment for shifts allegedly carried out by these 'employees'.

Amobi, McCourt, Ogundimu, Osunkoya, Adekunle, Oworu and Hassan who permitted the stolen funds to be laundered through their bank accounts - with each receiving thousands of pounds in the form of 'wages', assisted Henry in her fraudulent activity.

A further man, 42-year-old Joseph Oduguwa is sought in connection with this case and is possibly residing in Nigeria.

Olusegun Akin-Akala, aged 40, of Luther Close, Edgware, was found not guilty in October 2005.