A student who failed her exams got a job as a radiographer despite not having the correct qualifications, a court heard today.

Martha Kirkwood-Rhinds, 27, was employed by South Tees NHS Trust after she claimed to have passed the first two years of her diagnostic radiography degree at Bradford University.

But she had failed in the second year of her BSc and her lie was only detected following a routine audit of new employees' qualifications after she had begun work with the Trust.

Few details about the case were revealed at Teesside Crown Court today, where she admitted one count of obtaining money by deception and three counts of forgery.

Other specimen charges relating to the same deception were left on the file.

The defendant was bailed on condition that she live at Kelloe Close, Hardwick, Stockton, Teesside, until she is sentenced next month.

Judge David Bryant told her: ''You should understand the fact that in seeking a pre-sentence report and granting you bail should not be taken by you as giving any indication of the sentence you will receive.

''All sentences, including a prison sentence, are available in this case.''

After the case, a spokesman for the NHS Counter-fraud Service said: ''The better we can protect the NHS against people like this, the better we can protect the public's health.

''Every pound lost to fraud is a pound lost to healthcare services.

''All fraud against the NHS is unacceptable and we hope this conviction sends a strong signal that if you defraud the NHS you will be caught and subsequently punished.''