FRAUD COP TO REPAY £100,000
Ex-BTP inspector who took out insurance for commission faces ‘financial life sentence’
A POLICE inspector who pocketed more than £100,000 in bogus payments while working as a financial adviser has been told he will have to repay every penny.
David Brown set up fake accounts in the names of investors, including family and friends, while he worked for British Transport Police.
He applied for insurance policies for people without their knowledge and pocketed the commission paid by Legal and General.
He even took out policies in the names of his brother, his mother-in-law and colleagues.
He was jailed last year for 18 months after admitting fraudulently accepting commission totalling £92,365 between 2010 and 2011.
He also admitted gaining £9590 by applying for loans from the Scottish Police Credit union in 2013 while pretending to stay at his mother’s house in Bellshill, Lanarkshire, when he was living in a £300,000 house in Motherwell.
He has now been ordered to repay the cash following a proceeds of crime hearing at Hamilton Sheriff Court.
Prosecutors have the power to seize money and future assets.
Brown, 47, had worked with the BTP since 1990, becoming a £50,000a-year inspector. He took on a second job with Glasgow-based financial services firm Ronald H Smith & Co in September 2009.
But an investigation launched after discrepancies were found in his accounts discovered 90 per cent of policies sold by him were lapsed, cancelled or had disappeared.
Brown’s crimes were discovered when customer Anna Dunne realised unauthorised payments were being lifted from her bank account.
He was sacked in October 2011 and a police probe found 52 false policies had been submitted by him.
It was also revealed he had been made bankrupt with debts totalling £331,673 in 2013.
Procurator fiscal Liam Murphy said: “Brown committed a significant fraud while he had a duty to protect the public from crime.
“Today’s result should serve as a warning – we will not stop at prosecution. In effect, we have secured a financial life sentence.
“The order for the full value of the frauds will remain active against him until every penny is paid back.”