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Shamed superhead must pay back £1.4m he stole from council

A disgraced superhead must repay £1.4 million received in illegal bonuses to the local authority that employed him after his request to appeal was dismissed.

Alan Davies, 72, has admitted false accounting and was stripped of his knighthood.

He was overpaid about £950,000 between 2003 and 2009 while he was head of Copland Community School in Wembley.

On one occasion, Davies took home £400,000 — three times the going rate for his position.

Brent council brought a High Court claim against Davies, of Mill Hill, and five other former members of staff who it claimed were overpaid £2.7 million over six years.

Last year, Mr Justice Zacaroli found Davies was liable to the council for breaching his fiduciary duty.

The judge told him to repay £1,395,839 in December and ruled that Brent could trace his assets to recoup the money.

Davies took his case to the Court of Appeal, but his request was refused this week on the grounds that, if it was taken forward, there would be “no real prospect of success”.

Davies ran the school for 20 years until he was suspended in May 2009.

He was lauded for his work by former prime ministers Tony Blair, Gordon Brown and David Cameron, all of whom visited the school.

In 2013, Davies pleaded guilty at Southwark crown court to creating a false paper trail on bonuses and allowances and was given a 12-month suspended sentence.

Margaret McLennan, deputy leader of Brent council, said: “I’m pleased that the Court of Appeal has refused Alan Davies the chance to appeal the High Court ruling that he received vast sums in unlawful bonuses and must pay back nearly £1.4 million.

“Davies fiddled the system to pay himself these outrageous bonuses.

“He now needs to pay back every penny he stole from the education of local school children and I am grateful to everyone who helped bring this disgraced former headteacher to justice.”

Davies declined to comment when approached by the Evening Standard.