£100k fraud policeman to pay back cash
A POLICE inspector who pocketed more than £100,000 in bogus payments while moonlighting as a financial adviser has been told to pay back every penny.
David Brown, 47, set up fake accounts in the names of investors – including family and friends – while working for the British Transport Police (BTP).
He applied for insurance policies for people without their knowledge and pocketed the commission paid out by finance giant Legal & General.
Brown, of Motherwell, Lanarkshire, even took out policies in the names of his brother, also a serving police officer, his mother-in-law, and other work colleagues.
The married father of one was jailed for 18 months at Hamilton Sheriff Court in August last year after admitting fraudulently accepting commission totalling £92,365.97 between 2010 and 2011.
He also admitted gaining £9,590.58 by applying for loans from the Scottish Police Credit union in 2013, while pretending to live at his mother’s house in Bellshill. He was actually staying in a £300,000 detached house in Motherwell.
At a proceeds of crime hearing at the same court yesterday, Brown was ordered to repay £100,000. Prosecutors can seize money and assets he acquires in future. Brown had worked with the BTP since 1990 and earned £50,000 a year as an inspector.
In September 2009 he took on a second job with a Glasgow-based financial services firm, Ronald H Smith & Co.
But discrepancies were found in his accounts and an inquiry revealed 90 per cent of policies sold by him were lapsed, cancelled or had disappeared.
His fraud was exposed when customer Anna Dunne realised unauthorised payments were taken from her bank account.
Brown was suspended from police duties over the allegations and sacked in October 2011. A police probe found 52 false policies had been submitted by him. The court heard he told officers he was ‘f **** d as a result of this coming out’.
He was declared bankrupt with debts of £331,673 in 2013.
Yesterday, procurator fiscal Liam Murphy said: ‘[This] should serve as a warning – we will not stop at prosecution.
‘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.’
Jailing Brown, Sheriff David Bicket noted his ‘exemplary record of public service’ but said jail was the only option.