The pair, Attiya Sheikh and Omer Sheikh, pocketed almost £8k by flogging PPE pilfered from the NHS across four Ebay accounts from May to October 2020.
Paisley Sheriff Court heard 45-year-old Attiya Sheikh works as a doctor at East Kilbride’s Hairmyres Hospital while her 48-year-old husband works front-of-house at a family restaurant.
Local Councillor Eddie Devine, who previously demanded improved PPE for care home staff and social care workers, has condemned the Sheikhs’ scheme as “despicable”.
The Paisley Southeast councillor said: “For a doctor to sell stolen PPE from a hospital for their own financial gain is despicable.”
He continued: “People trust their doctors, we give them our respect, and while people were dying in hospitals and Renfrewshire care homes from covid, staff doing their best to do their jobs with what they had, she and her husband are financially benefitting from this.”
Devine didn’t mince words about the gravity of the offence: “That’s the lowest of the low. That makes me shake my head hearing this. Utterly despicable. It would be bad enough for any person to do this, but a doctor and her husband, it beggars belief.
“I hope that when they are sentenced next month they are dealt with appropriately for what they’ve done and the devastating consequences their actions would’ve had.”
The town’s court heard cops raided the Sheikh family home in Thornliebank in October 2020 but Mrs Sheikh wasn’t home at the time. During the search, 121 boxes of PPE, belonging to the NHS, were found in the couple’s attic, reports the Daily Record.
The procurator fiscal depute told the court: “Officers searched the attic and found 121 boxes of blue medical gloves, facemasks and electronic equipment that included a silver iPhone.
“It was noted from the officers the gloves were from a supplier named Fannin Ltd. They are a care essential brand company that sold a brand of gloves to the NHS.
“Fannin UK Ltd make medical products and PPE. Because of what was found in the property, Mrs Sheikh, who wasn’t at home at the time of the search was contacted.
“At this point she was eager to speak about what had been found and she was advised by an officer it wasn’t appropriate to speak at that time and she would be contacted at a later date to do so. Later that day, Mrs Sheikh contacted the officer and the call was put on speaker.
“She started to discuss gloves that were found and before proceeding she was cautioned and proceeded to state that she had obtained the gloves from an individual from within Hairmyres Hospital and she had seen his NHS identification badge and that she had a suspicion she knew where the stock of gloves came from.”
The court was told that Doctor Sheikh, when questioned by police, claimed an NHS worker named Andrew Ferguson had given her the gloves.
The fiscal depute added: “She provided the name Andrew Ferguson. Enquiries carried out concluded there was no Andrew Ferguson found to work at the hospital.
“Further investigations were carried out by officers and uncovered through Ebay accounts that during May 30 to October 7, 2020, that both accused had been selling PPE on Ebay to various individuals. The value generated from this was £7,857.”
Before their trial at Paisley Sheriff Court, Attiya Sheikh and Omer Sheikh pleaded guilty to the reset of NHS-owned PPE that had been “dishonestly appropriated” by persons unknown to the prosecutor.
Sheriff Sukhwinder Gill declared: “Given the nature of the charge, I’ll call for reports.”
The sentencing has been deferred until next month, pending a criminal justice social work report and a restriction of liberty order assessment.
