A ‘DANGEROUS fantasist’ who pretended to be a doctor at last year’s Blenheim Horse Trials has been jailed for four years.

Sentencing Cassandra Grant at Oxford Crown Court yesterday, Judge Peter Ross said it made his ‘blood run cold’ to think of what might have happened if the 39-year-old had been left alone with a patient.

Grant, of Mulberry Walk in Bristol, had previously admitted one count of fraud by false representation and one count of common assault in connection with an incident at last year’s horse trials at the historic palace grounds in September.

Mike Rocques, prosecuting, said Grant had attended a stewarding recruitment day in July and in emails exchanged afterwards claimed to be a qualified A&E and mental health nurse which led to her being added to the event’s medical team.

He added she was also seen during the horse trials wearing a florescent jacket with ‘doctor’ on the back, tried to be assigned to cover part of the course only appropriate for a doctor and referred to herself as Dr Niamh.

At an earlier hearing it had been suggested she administered an intravenous injection of an anti-sickness drug to a patient but Mr Rocques said it was ‘not clear’ how involved she was in that process and it seemed other medics stepped in over the actual injection.

Mr Rocques said Grant had a string of fraud offences, with the earliest a 2002 conviction over false impersonation of a medical professional.

Most recently in 2016 she was given a suspended sentence after pretending to be a real cancer patient to obtain treatment she did not need, going so far as to have a Do Not Resuscitate order put on a woman’s file.

Marie Critchley, mitigating, said Grant’s ‘bizarre behaviour’ was down to a 'factitious' disorder – a psychological state she had in part created herself – but said she gained nothing emotionally or financially from her lies.

She said: “This wasn’t a malicious deception to cause havoc, this was erroneous erratic behaviour.” She added ‘fortunately’ no one had been injured and that Grant’s condition was manageable with therapy and medication.

Judge Ross sentenced her to three years for the false representation charge, with three months to run concurrently over the second count, as well as activating a 12-month suspended sentence for her previous offences.

Addressing Grant, he said: “You are a dangerous fantasist and, from reading the medical reports, it is quite clear you have a borderline personality disorder.”

He continued: “You offered to do nighttime cover and clearly wanted to put yourself in a position where it was highly likely you would be expected to offer medical assistance.

“You involved yourself in more than one medical emergency and it is right to say that you would have created financial mayhem had there been claims over your treatment.”

Judge Ross added: “It was a matter of some seriousness that most basic checks were not made to the medical register.”

Grant, who missed several pre-trial hearings, was due to be sentenced on Thursday but failed to attend court prompting Judge Ross to issue a warrant for her arrest. She handed herself in shortly before yesterday’s hearing.