Wylfa cop spared jail on ‘overclaimed expenses’ charges

A NUCLEAR power station cop who fraudulently claimed more than £1,100 in expenses has been spared jail.

Daniel William Fazakerley was found guilty after denying the con while working as an armed constable with the Civil Nuclear Constabulary (CNC) at Wylfa, Anglesey.

The 27-year-old, who was paid £1,174.86 more than he’d actually spent over seven months, was handed a four-month prison term, suspended for a year. He must also observe an electronically monitored curfew for the next two months and pay £2,784.86 costs and compensation.

Judge Rhys Rowlands told him at Caernarfon Crown Court yesterday: “You were entitled to claim expenses but you inflated the claims because you thought you could get away with it.

“Your claims were understandably rejected by the jury but your denials pointed the finger (of blame) at others.

“You were trying to be too clever by half and as a result you have lost your good character.”

The court heard Fazakerley, of New Chester Road, Birkenhead, accepted he had claimed expenses but said had not done so in a fraudulent way.

Julian King, defending, pointed out his client had not claimed all the money he was entitled to from his employers and their loss was almost equal to the sum he had not claimed.

During a two-day trial the jury heard Fazakerley rented a cottage in Pentraeth and paid the rent via a bank transfer.

Payments for gas and electricity were made seperately, and Fazakerley created his own invoices and submitted the inflated claims. Fazakerley told the jury his superiors had asked for a more formal-looking invoice for the utility bills than the handwritten notes provided by his landlord, Helen Thomas.

He said he had prepared a document on headed notepaper and that Mrs Thomas had been happy with the arrangement and had signed most of them.

One claim was for £283 but the sum he owed for gas, electricity and council tax was £116, another was for £399 when the sum claimed by the property owner was £127.

The court heard Fazakerley, the son of a senior Merseyside Police officer, joined the CNC in 2014 and was initially based in Cumbria. He transferred to Wylfa to be closer to his family.

The former supermarket delivery driver resigned from the CNC last August and now works at a Chester-based car dealership.