A CONVICTED rapist got a job at a hospital after lying on his application, a court heard.

Nathan David Puma appeared at Mold Crown Court via video link on Friday for sentence.

The HMP Berwyn inmate, 29, had previously pleaded guilty to numerous charges of fraud, as well as failing to comply with notification requirements and obtaining services dishonestly.

Andrew Green, prosecuting, told the court that in April last year Puma applied for a job with Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board.

He gave a false date of birth and supplied a false security check, claiming he had no convictions - confirming by phone interview that these details were correct.

He gained a job as a healthcare worker at the Ablett Psychiatric Unit based at Glan Clwyd Hospital and was working with vulnerable patients.

But it was later discovered that he was a registered sex offender - having been convicted of rape in 2012.

While working at the unit, he befriended another health board worker who at the time was living in a caravan with colleagues away from their families to protect them from covid-19.

He claimed to own a property in Rhos on Sea and offered the woman tenancy there, sending her photos and an agreement document.

But he didn't own the property.

He'd done some renovation work there for the owner previously and wasn't entitled to offer it out for rent.

Following the renovations he carried out at the Rhos on Sea property the actual owner, who had paid him £7,000 for the job, discovered his work to be substandard and unfinished.

He threatened to call the police, claiming the owner was harassing him.

In 2019, the court heard, he gained employment at a company on Deeside Industrial Estate.

During the four months of his employment there were several causes for concern - including him not giving customers service he should have and misinforming customers and management about the level of work required.

He was dismissed for dishonesty.

As part of his employment there, he was security checked and gave his driving license number.

But he'd given false details - claiming he had served in the British Army and that he'd been awarded the Victoria Cross.

In December of 2019, a woman using a swinging website came across a post by a user named "Kinky Chelsea."

It sought women looking for extra cash.

The complainant made contact with 'Chelsea' - who was actually Puma.

He claimed as Chelsea that he worked for an existing escort agency and encouraged her to consider trying escort work herself.

Some weeks later Puma, as Chelsea, had arranged a meeting between the complainant and a man named Jason.

The woman believed she was going to be paid £1,500.

But the entire process was a hoax, the court heard, because Puma was also Jason.

The two met and had unprotected sex three times, before he left - claiming he was a police firearms officer and there had been a 'nasty collision'.

Mr Green said the woman never received any payment for that meeting, and when she was asked to attend a second - under the belief she'd be paid for both - she went.

She had unprotected sex with him two times and following the meeting she once again received no money.

The court heard she also experienced "severe" and unpleasant symptoms after having contracted a sexually transmitted infection, for which she had to seek treatment.

In a basis of plea, Puma asserted he didn't intentionally pass on any infection.

When Puma took the woman's bank details to 'pay' her, he also applied for multiple loans with as many as six financial institutions, the total requested coming to just over £51,000.

Those applications ruined the complainant's credit rating, the court heard, and has left her in ongoing difficulty in obtaining legitimate financial support.

His use of social media and the swinging site constituted a breach of his notification requirements as part of the sex offenders' register.

Owen Edwards, defending, told the court his client had since converted to Christianity and has become a "changed man."

He said: "He is more than aware of what his victims have lost.

"He knows how hard it will be to gain trust in the future - and it's right for me to indicate what he has lost by his own actions; his marriage, his house, his dogs, his grandad while he has been in prison.

"He now finds himself at rock bottom and he will leave prison with absolutely nothing.

"He says he is committed to stopping lying - we'll wait and see."

Judge Niclas Parry called Puma a "wicked, callous professional fraudster," referencing the fact he has been committing fraud from the age of 17.

"Your treatment of hard working decent people in this case would appal any right minded person," he said.

Across the 13 offences with which he was charged, 11 of which related to fraud, the Judge handed Puma a total sentence of five years imprisonment.