A nursing student who forged a visa to fraudulently claim £23,000 for a university course has been banned from working as carer.
Thandiwe Matikiti, 33, from Zimbabwe, was offered the money to do a three-year nursing course at Stirling University after officials accepted fake documentation.
She told the Student Awards Agency Scotland (SAAS) that the Home Office had given her indefinite leave to remain in the UK.
Matikiti, of Fauldhouse, West Lothian, was jailed for 14 months in 2019 but freed after appeal judges ruled she committed the fraud for a "worthwhile" cause.
But it has now been revealed Matikiti has been struck off working as a support worker in a care home after denying she had criminal convictions.
She told the Scottish Social Services Council (SSSC) the allegations against her were "untrue" and claimed that she did not have a conviction for fraud.
However, she failed to respond when the SSSC sent her a copy of the conviction which formed the basis of the disciplinary proceedings.
A panel blasted the claims as "not credible" and ruled they had no other option but to strike her off.
In a written ruling, the SSSC said: "While this is an isolated conviction, your behaviour took place over a significant period of around three years.
"You have failed to display any insight or regret for your actions.
"Given your lack of insight and information about your recent practice, we cannot be satisfied that there is no risk of you acting in a seriously dishonest manner in the future.
"Given the very serious nature of the dishonesty there would be concerns if you resumed working with service users.
"Your actions could damage the public trust and there is an expectation that appropriate action is taken to mark the behaviour as unacceptable."
They added: "The SSSC considers a removal order is the most appropriate sanction as it is both necessary and justified in the public interest and to maintain the continuing trust and confidence in the social service profession and the SSSC as the regulator of the profession."
Quashing her jail sentence, appeal judge Lord Glennie, alongside Lord Turnbull, had said: "In any event the circumstances in this case are, we think, exceptional, having regard in particular to the nature and purpose of the fraud which was committed to enable her to get funding for worthwhile and necessary training with the view to a career in nursing."
Her defence team had said the jail term was "excessive" for a first offender.
