Former headteacher of Copland Community School in Wembley is stripped of his knighthood

Davies is the former headteacher of Copland Community School (Image: Archant)

A disgraced former headteacher of a secondary school in Wembley has been stripped of his knighthood following his conviction for false accounting.

Hank Roberts had led calls forn Davies to be stripped of his knighthood following his conviction for flase accounting (Image: Archant)

Alan Davies admitted creating a fake paper trial on bonus payments and allowances while he was the head of Copland Community School in Cecil Avenue.

He resigned from his £160,000-a-year post in October 2009 following claims of a £2.7m bonus payments scam at the school.

He was handed a 12-month sentence, suspended for two years and six fraud charges in connection with the allegations were dropped.

Davies, who was knighted for his services to education in 2000, was acquitted of laundering £270,000 which was transferred from a NatWest bank account into a Spanish account in May 2008.

He was sentenced at Southwark Crown Court in October last year.

Hank Roberts, a geography teacher at the school was the whistleblower who lifted the lid on the bonus payments,

Following Davies’s conviction he launched a petition for him to be stripped of his knighthood.

He said: “This is brilliant news. At least there is some justice in the world even though getting him to court and getting to this stage has taken a very long time.

“Every day it seems there is another financial scandal involving our schools. Something is radically wrong and I believe it is connected with the break-up of the state education system and allowing greater controls to individual heads and governing bodies.

“I know that not just myself but an overwhelming majority of staff, parents and pupils will be glad this action has been taken.”

Davies was tried alongside Dr Richard Evans, 55, former deputy head, Dr Indravadan Patel, 73, ex-chair of governors, Columbus Udokoro, 62, former school bursar, Michelle McKenzie, 53, ex-HR manager and Martin Day, 58, former-vice chair of governors.

His co-defendants were found not guilty of conspiracy to defraud Brent Council after the prosecution offered no evidence against them.

While sentencing Davies, Judge Deborah Taylor said: “Your dishonest behaviour represents a fall from grace. You have failed in your duty as head of the school – in failing to ensure proper, transparent management, and, more importantly, you lied about it and resorted to dishonest fabrication. What sort of message did that send to the children?”

A spokesman for the Cabinet’s Office confirmed that Davies has had his knighthood annulled earlier this month.