Ex-nurse whose firm netted £2bn PPE contracts enjoys luxury Caribbean life

A SUPER-RICH former nurse whose PPE firm raked in £2billion from government Covid contracts laughs as she paddles on a Caribbean island.

Sarah Stoute, 49, and husband Richard, 52, spent Christmas abroad in luxury.

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They also spent a fortune on expensive lawyers to gag The Sun on Sunday with an injunction — but we fought it off and can now show readers how they are living it up.

The Stoutes’ company Full Support Healthcare, based in Wellingborough, Northants, got more than double the amount of any other similar business for supplying masks and gowns.

Even then, £84.7million of it was unused as the Government had too much stock.

During the pandemic, the business had sales of £2billion — yet before Covid the firm made a profit of less than £1million.

In 2020 alone their firm took more than one-tenth of the Department of Health’s total £15billion PPE spend.

A “framework” rule meant contracts were not put out to tender.

Sarah was a nurse before moving to medical supplies manufacturers Kimberly-Clark.

She set up Full Support Healthcare with Richard in 2002.

Our pictures show Sarah a world away from her days as a nurse as she soaked up the sun.

A jet ski had just returned her to shore from a yacht, where she had spent time with family and friends.

But we cannot show you their £30million mega-villa and £1million superyacht on the paradise isle.

The couple have said they are not Covid profiteers, insisting it was just good business.

She said she received a “tip off” that a deadly virus was spreading from China at the end of 2019 and was seeking PPE before it was known about in the UK.

Sarah said: “We knew the items that would be required and commissioned them for immediate production, ensuring we were first in line for delivery.

“This ensured access to the significant supplies that would be needed in the UK and around the world with the shortest possible delivery times.

“We were thus able to deliver in as timely a way as possible and this undoubtedly saved lives.

“By doing what our company is there to do, we were able to supply the NHS and other key services with high-quality and reliable PPE at the time of greatest need.”

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