A FORMER Burnt Oak medical centre manager has been found guilty of claiming tens of thousands of pounds in wages and overtime through fraud.

Brenda Duncan, 49 of Curzon Crescent, Willesden, was found guilty at the Old Bailey of theft and fraud.

The offences took place when she was practice manager at Oak Lodge Medical Centre in Burnt Oak, where she worked for ten years until November 2009.

Mrs Duncan awarded herself fraudulent salary increases by altering her pay scale and giving herself unjustified overtime payments running into thousands of pounds.

Between 2002 and 2007, Mrs Duncan inflated her basic £38,000 annual salary to £77,000 and had awarded herself more than £100,000 in overtime.

Mrs Duncan's position entitled her to no overtime payments.

She also took out a life insurance policy and charged it to the medical centre.

Since 2007 she claimed £236,419 above the salary she was entitled to.

Mrs Duncan’s employment was terminated due to poor time keeping and sickness in 2009.

When her conduct was later investigated, it was found that there were instances when she claimed overtime that she was not even present at the surgery.

Some months she claimed 250 hours in overtime.

Mrs Duncan was found guilty of obtaining property by deception, fraud by false representation and theft by employee.

She will be sentenced at the Old Bailey on November 25.