“I always thought it would be better to be a fake somebody than a real nobody.” – Tom Ripley, The Talented Mr Ripley

To the people who knew him, Mike Evans was a personable man and a competent veterinary surgeon. Yes, there had been that time when he had botched surgery on a cat, killing it, for which the practice had had to compensate the owner, and it was true that he sometimes seemed a little “rusty” with his fundamentals, but for the employees and clients of the Taunton practice where he had worked for two years he was easy to work with and good with animals.

Then, things took an unexpected turn: it turned out Mike Evans was really Patrick Keniry, and he had no veterinary qualifications at all. The practice had done a background check, but South African Keniry had stolen the identity of a real registered vet, so nothing seemed amiss. It was only when somebody recognised Keniry as an imposter and alerted RCVS Chief Investigator, Michael Hepper, who in turn contacted Avon & Somerset Police, that Keniry was exposed. Shockingly, he had previously been convicted four times in Britain and twice in his own country of working as an unlicenced vet. His first known offence was in the 1980s, and his most recent conviction was in Swindon, in 2011, when he was jailed for ten months. Judge David Ticehurst described Keniry, who has used four different names and four birth dates, as a “fantasist and recidivist” who had “caused the veterinary profession great harm”. Last week, Keniry was jailed for three years for fraud by false representation.

It’s a story that sounds borderline implausible. How could a man continually steal vets’ identities and work for years at a time without being found out? It is oddly reminiscent of The Talented Mr Ripley, a book written by Patricia Highsmith and made into a film starring Matt Damon as a man who impersonates various people with the help of some glasses and an adjustable fringe. But replace the picturesque Italian backdrop with Somerset, and Matt Damon with a balding, middle aged man, and you’ve basically got the same story, albeit one that probably won’t get five Oscar nominations.

 The RCVS made a statement, saying: “There are around 23,000 veterinary surgeons registered to practise in the UK who are fully trained professionals dedicated to upholding and improving the health and welfare of animals under their care. We don’t believe the unprecedented actions of this one fraudulent individual should, in any way, undermine the confidence and trust animal owners place in their veterinary team.”

To nit-pick with the RCVS, while Keniry’s recidivism is exceptional, these are not unprecedented actions of one fraudulent individual. Many people have managed to find veterinary jobs while being either underqualified or completely unqualified.

In 2016, Danny Thomas, 49, of Wichita, Kansas, was sentenced to 54 months in prison and five years of probation for a series of fraudulent activities including impersonating a vet. Thomas posed as a veterinarian under the not-at-all-fake-sounding name Chase McKnight, and used forged cheques to buy equipment for his fictitious veterinary office.

In 2013, Florida, Eugene “Larry” Gentsch was convicted of performing veterinary work without a licence at a practice owned by his wife, Dr. Amy Gentsch, a licenced veterinarian. That same year, Amy Wood, from Essex, was sentenced to a 12-month community order and 150 hours community service after posing as an RVN for a year. Woods passed herself off as an RVN to four separate practices, again by using the identity of real nurses, and printed false documents to back up her claims. 2013 was seemingly a stellar year for fake vets, because again in that year a woman was found guilty of multiple charges related to injuring and killing animals while posing as a veterinarian, and sent to prison for 18 months. Prosecutors said Brandi Tomko pretended to be a veterinarian at C&D Animal Hospital in Ohio, where she drew blood, wrote prescriptions and performed surgeries on animals, including spaying cats and neutering at least one dog.

In 2012, Amber Henshaw led a less sophisticated attempt to deceive her way into a vet nurse job, after pretending she had NVQ level two and three in veterinary nursing science, when she had in fact failed to achieve them. As she made no effort to change her identity, her fraudulent career was short lived, spanning two and a half weeks before staff realised she was underqualified.

In 2010, a couple from Staffordshire who claimed to be vets despite having no legal UK qualifications were convicted of running a fraudulent business. Olanrewaju Oduloju, 39, and Lynda Lerwill-Carter, 51, ran a veterinary service from their Rugeley home in 2008 and 2009 and pleaded guilty to fraud. Oduloju also stole the identity of a properly registered vet. They were handed relatively light sentences: Oduloju received a 26-week suspended jail sentence and Lerwill-Carter was given a two-year supervision order. They were exposed after seven customers reported them to the authorities for their “dubious advice”.

In fact, there are so many examples of this that this list could go on for pages. One case dates back to 1993, when Alan Abrams, 31, admitted to 25 counts of illegally performing procedures on house pets without proper training, suggesting this is far from a modern phenomenon. The wider question it poses is what ramifications could arise from somebody without the required level of experience performing medical procedures under the guise of a qualified professional.

A clear example of these consequences arose in 2008 in Formby, Merseyside, when Russell Oakes, who had fraudulently claimed to be a vet for over a year, was called to castrate a pony. His amateur attempt resulted in an arterial bleed that required emergency intervention by a real surgeon to save the animal. He would later tell police he assumed he could do it because he watched a video about it online. Oaks was jailed for two years in 2010. While most of these people sound like they did not intend any harm to the animals, it is clearly an act of hubris to undertake this kind of work knowing you do not have the proper training, and one can only speculate what kind of damage may have gone under the radar.

So what exactly can be done to prevent this? The RCVS has some advice on how to watch out for a fraudster:

“While sophisticated and convincing fraudsters like Mr Keniry can be very difficult to prevent, we would urge veterinary practices to be vigilant. For example, we recommend that potential employers contact our Registration Department to make checks, always interview a potential employee face-to-face, ask to see supporting identity documents, prepare questions which confirm where and when they studied, obtain references and, if they are employed, mentor the new member of staff to oversee their performance.”

“For members of the public we recommend that, if they have concerns about the legitimacy of their veterinary surgeon or veterinary nurses, they talk to someone else in the practice about their concerns or contact us so that we can make further enquiries. Members of the public can also check on the status of veterinary professionals using our Find a Vet search tool.”

Or, failing that, don’t trust anybody who looks like Matt Damon with glasses and a fringe.