A MONMOUTH man was part of a group of friends who plotted to defraud the NHS of more than £3 million, a court has heard.

Members of the group, which included a senior NHS manager, enjoyed a lavish lifestyle after becoming involved in the conspiracy against Leeds and York Partnership NHS Foundation Trust and NHS England, the court was told.

Six people went on trial at Leeds Crown Court on Tuesday in connection with the plot.

Terry Dixon, from Monmouth, along with Daniel Benton, from Leeds, are each charged with one count of conspiracy to commit fraud. Huw and Jaqualine Grove, from Bristol, are each charged with two counts of conspiracy to commit fraud; Lisa Hill, from Colchester, is charged with two counts of acquiring, using or possessing criminal property; and Wayne Hill, from Colchester, is charged with one count of acquiring, using or possessing criminal property.

Craig Hassall, prosecuting, told the jury that the fraud centred around Neil Wood, from Leeds, who is not involved in this trial. He told the jury that Wood, 41, who was employed by the Leeds and York NHS Trust before moving to NHS England, gave work to a number of his friends, without ever going through a tender process.

His role was to manage training and staff development and he outsourced "the vast majority" of the work to Huw and Jaqualine Grove, 47, who ran their own company, The Learning Grove.

Mr Hassall said: "The Learning Grove, over a period of time, was paid well over £3 million of NHS money."

The prosecutor said almost exactly 50 per cent of all the money paid to The Learning Grove was transferred to another company, whose sole director was Wood's wife Lisa.

Mr Hassall said a series of emails between Neil Wood and Huw Grove, 44, between 2007 and 2014, discussed how they would split the profits if Wood gave the NHS work to Grove.

Mr Hassall said when Grove moved to NHS England he worked with other outside companies and told them not to deal with the NHS directly but to work with The Learning Grove.

The prosecutor said The Learning Grove would negotiate discounts with the companies and then costs would be inflated before invoices were submitted to the NHS. Mr Hassall said Wood was an old friend of Dixon, 46, of Monmouth, who had split up from his wife and was having financial difficulties.

He said Wood used his position with the NHS to pay an £18,000 "administration fee" to Dixon for work that was not carried out.

In September 2010, the Woods, the Groves, the Dixons, and the Hills went to London for a "celebratory weekend" for their work. The court heard they stayed in the Mandarin Oriental in Hyde Park and spent thousands of pounds on food and drink at Jamie Oliver's Fifteen restaurant and on a private dining experience at Gordon Ramsay's Maze restaurant.

The trial continues.