High Court orders former Wembley head teacher to pay back £1.4million

A "super-head" teacher in Wembley who was stripped of his knighthood after being convicted of false accounting has been told to pay back millions.

Alan Davies, who had previously been knighted for services to education, had it stripped from him in 2014 after a conviction of false accounting the previous year.

The disgraced head teacher took home a pay packet of £400,000 a year after fiddling with the school's bonus system.

On Thursday (November 15), the High Court ordered the former head of Copland Community School in Wembley and his associates to pay back £1,395,839 plus 75% of Brent Council's assessed legal costs.

Davies and three of his associates had their pay packets approved by former Chair of Governors Dr Indravadan Patel and former Vice Chair of Governors, Martin Day.

However in August, the High Court dismissed Davies' justifications for the excessive payments labelling them "patently untrue" and "false".

Dr Patel and Mr Day must now pay back £552,729 between them plus 65% of the Council's assessed legal costs.

The school permanently closed down following the scandal, while Brent Council launched a five-year legal battle to recoup the vast sums misappropriated by the men.

Cllr Margaret McLennan, Deputy Leader of Brent Council, said: "We are delighted with the verdict as it means the money, which had been swindled, is now going to be returned and can now be used for the benefit of local people.

"Davies and his colleagues were arrogantly paying themselves ridiculously high and unjustified bonuses, including Davies pocketing a whopping £400,000 in one year - which is around three times the going rate for the job.

"It has taken years of stamina and determination to win this victory but justice has finally been done."

Alan Davies is one of only a few men to have had their knighthood stripped away in recent years. Others include Robert Mugabe, bankers Fred Goodwin and James Crosby after the financial crisis, George Castledine, a nursing professor who was struck off after financial and seual misconduct and Anthony Blunt, who was knighted before it was revealed by Margaret Thatcher that he had been a Soviet spy.

The House of Commons approved a motion in 2016 to ask the Honours Forefeiture Committee to remove Sir Philip Green's knighthood following allegations of misconduct leading to the collapse of British Home Stores.

Further calls were made following the revelation in the House of Commons by MP Peter Hail as the applicant for an injunction preventing the press from reporting on allegations of sexual and racial harassment.