Hi - I wonder if I can have some feedback on a situation I find myself in?

I have recently recruited an HR Officer and they are in their probation period. We ask for two references as a condition of our offer and they have come back. One from the employee's last employer and one from the previous to last employer.

Both of the previous employers are Law Firms. The previous to last employer reference came back with a different role title and different date range (two years difference) to what has been written on the employee's CV, and they also stated the employee worked in a part-time capacity; not what had been written on the CV.

I phoned the referee to discuss their reference as I initially thought it was a mix up however they would not take my call and asked me to put my subsequent questions in writing. I wrote to the referee and explained that there may have been a mix up and could they please confirm that the reference they gave was correct - they wrote back to say it was correct and reflected what they had on file for the employee in question.

I explained this dilemma to the employee, they said it was a mistake and I asked if they wouldn't mind contacting the referee directly and asking them to cc me into the email me with a response. The employee agreed and said she would contact them straight away.

However the next day I got an email from the employee who had gone to her last employer and asked the person who provided a reference for them to look into the historical employment files they had and pull out the reference they had got from their previous to last employer when they took the job with them, and send it on to them so they could forward it to me as proof of their role at the previous to last employer. 

I now have the reference - the dates are still not accurate and the role title is more reflective of the role they have on their CV but not 100%  however I am uncomfortable using this because the person that wrote it back in 2013 no longer works for the Law firm that provided it. 

They also stated they had CIPD - Level 5 however when I revisited this and asked for proof as we still hadn't had it, they stated it was completed back in 1989/1990 and that the courses were called a different thing and they didn't have certified proof because IPD became Chartered. I asked the recruitment agency if they could validate any of this and they came back to say they had contacted CIPD and that this employee's name was not on record.

These feel like red flags to me but I don't want to over react.

Should I be worried?

Thanks in advance. Fi