A senior military officer has been jailed for 21 months for falsely claiming virtually £50,000 in allowances to pay for his youngsters’s boarding college charges.
Maj Gen Nick Welch, who’s believed to be essentially the most senior officer to face a court docket martial since 1815, was convicted of a single cost of fraud after a four-week trial at Bulford army court docket in Wiltshire.
Choose advocate basic Alan Massive stated the panel of senior officers sentenced Welch, “on the idea the defendant behaved dishonestly all through”.
The court docket was informed the 57-year-old two-star basic, who left the army in 2018, had utilized for the allowance on the idea that he and his spouse, Charlotte, wouldn’t be residing near the kids’s colleges in Dorset. He claimed the continuity of schooling allowance (CEA) to pay for annual charges of £37,000 and £22,500 at two Dorset colleges between December 2015 and February 2017.
However the prosecution said that Charlotte Welch, 54, truly spent most of her time on the household’s cottage in Blandford Discussion board, Dorset, near the 2 colleges, quite than at their allotted army lodging in Putney, London.
The investigation was launched in February 2017 after a neighbour alerted authorities concerning the Welch household’s absence from their London residence. Welch denied being dishonest and stated he believed he had complied with the necessities.
The prosecutor, Sarah Clarke QC, stated Charlotte Welch was a “nation lady” who was away from the London residence for greater than 200 days a yr and was concerned in the area people in Dorset, taking part in the flute on the native church, being a member of a guide membership and having a “community of buddies”.
The court docket was informed that when Welch heard there had been a criticism concerning the fraud, the couple hurried to London.
Clarke stated: “She cancelled her plans, drove up and spent the week going out and about being seen and being seen within the native space.” The barrister added: “He had an obligation not solely with the military, however the public, too, to adjust to the rules. And, let’s face it, who is actually going to query the phrase of a significant basic?”
In addition to the custodial sentence, to be served in a civilian jail, Welch was retrospectively dismissed from the military, which means he won’t be able to learn from the rank of retired main basic.
He was additionally ordered to pay again the fraudulently claimed cash.