A disgraced former headteacher who received “vast sums” in unlawful bonuses must pay nearly £1.4 million to the local authority which employed him, the high court has ruled.
Alan Davies, who was stripped of his knighthood after he was convicted of false accounting in 2013, was overpaid approximately £950,000 between 2003 and 2009 while he was headmaster of Copland Community School in Wembley, north London.
The London Borough of Brent brought a high court claim against Davies and five other former members of staff who it claimed were overpaid £2.7 million over a six-year period.
In October, Mr Justice Zacaroli found that Davies, who was paid more than £400,000 in 2007-08, was liable to Brent for breaching his fiduciary duty to not dishonestly spend the council’s money otherwise than for the purposes of the school.
Giving a further judgment on Thursday, the judge ordered Davies to repay a total of £1,395,839 to the council and ruled that Brent was entitled to trace his assets in order to recoup the money.
The judge added that Davies does not have to pay the sum immediately, pending his attempt to appeal against the decision that he was liable to the council.
The high court also ordered that Davies’ five co-defendants must repay the council a total of more than £600,000.
Davies, previously described as a “superhead”, was headteacher of Copland Community School for 20 years until he was suspended from his £160,000-a-year post in May 2009.
In October 2013 he pleaded guilty at Southwark Crown Court to creating a false paper trail on bonus payments and allowances and was handed a 12-month sentence suspended for two years.
After the earlier high court judgment, Margaret McLennan, deputy leader of Brent Council, said: “We are delighted with the verdict as it means the money, which had been swindled, will be returned and can now be used for the benefit of local people.
“Davies and his chums 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.”
