A former hospital specialist has been given a suspended prison sentence for defrauding the NHS out of thousands of pounds.

Peter Crocker, 54, of Leybury Way, Scraptoft, was principal orthotist at the Queen's Medical Centre, in Nottingham, and his work involved providing braces, supports and special footwear for patients.

Crocker also treated private patients at Nottingham Nuffield Hospital, in Woodthorpe, Leicester Nuffield Hospital and The Park Hospital, near Arnold.

He was sentenced at Nottingham Crown Court yesterday after being found guilty at an earlier trial of ordering more than £30,000 of medical devices from the NHS and selling them to private patients. The number of devices ordered totalled 371.

He also made false expense claims from Nottingham University Hospitals Trust over a period of five-and-a-half years, cheating the NHS out of £21,981.

A jury unanimously found him guilty of three charges of cheating the public revenue and four of false accounting.

A fourth charge of cheating the public revenue was left to lie on file and he was found not guilty of a fifth charge.

Sentencing Crocker yesterday, Judge Michael Stokes QC, Recorder of Nottingham, said: "I accept this is not dishonesty that suddenly occurred to you one morning when you went into work, this is something that was extremely gradual and came upon you when you appreciated that the system in place for which you were partly responsible was wholly inadequate when it came to issuing invoices."

Crocker, a father of four, was sentenced to 12 months in prison suspended for 18 months.

He was also sentenced to a community order for one year and ordered to do 150 hours of unpaid work. Crocker's name will be removed from the register of orthotists.

Steve Guillon, Operational Fraud Manager East Midlands, NHS Counter Fraud Service, said:

"It is entirely unacceptable for any NHS employee to put their NHS patients second. Peter Crocker has paid the price for doing so."