A MENTAL health trust paid out almost £900,000 to fraudsters after being targeted by the opportunist gang.

The North Essex Partnership NHS Foundation Trust, which provides mental health services across the county, was hit by audacious "high-stakes" criminals posing as building firms which were known to legitimately be carrying out work for public bodies.

The fraudsters were able to con the bodies because details of all public sector contracts are freely available to view under financial transparency rules.

The co-conspirators would write to the organisations claiming to have changed their companies' banking details, and instead supply an account controlled by the criminals.

However some of the letters had actually been faxed from an internet cafe in Dalston, east London.

Several of those convicted for their part provided the accounts used, or administered, how the money was moved while others took a leading role in targeting the organisations.

In total the North Essex Partnership paid out £896,700 to the fraudsters but was able to recover £536,966.

Overall, the conspiracy landed £12.67 million, made up of cash from 22 health trusts, local councils and even the the Guernsey government.

Experts say the bold scheme had the potential to have siphoned off £20 million.

Sentencing ten of those involved at Leicester Crown Court, Judge Philip Head said: "This was a sophisticated and widespread fraud in its conception and execution."

Jailing the conspirators for between ten years and 22 weeks, he added: "These bodies were selected because it was hoped their accounting processes would be vulnerable."

"The loss falls necessarily on those who are not able to pay it, ultimately the members of the public whose taxes fund these bodies."

The case can only now be reported after reporting restrictions were lifted.

Nigerian national Bayo Awonorin, referred to by the judge as the "prime-mover", remains at large having failed to answer police bail.

The con was first discovered by a Lincoln-based NHS hospital raised the alarm and detectives from Lincolnshire Police uncovered a "seamless process" of a fraud and money laundering operation crossing international borders.

Among the conspirators was a former nightclub toiletries' seller, company directors and a newsagent.