F.P Report
LONDON: United Kingdom’s Retired Major General face court martial for more than 200 years jailed on Friday for 21 months after cheating taxpayers of nearly £50,000.
Regarding the allegations, Major General Nick Welch has been jailed at Bulford Military Court for 21 months after he was convicted of fraud by fallaciously claiming more than £48,000 in allowance to pay for his children’s school fees.
After getting out inside details, it was revealed that Major General Nick abused the Continuity of Education Allowance (CEA) to send two of his children to boarding schools in Dorset until he was reported by a neighbour.
Welch, who was Assistant Chief of the General Staff based at the Ministry of Defence’s headquarters in London, had claimed he couldn’t afford the school fees, despite of the fact that he was receiving a whooping salary of £120,000-a-year.
It comes after Army Major Lloyd Hamilton, who was awarded an MBE for his charity work, was accused of defrauding the military out of nearly £40,000 to send his children to one of the country’s most expensive boarding schools, a court heard.
The issue came up when he was caught after an unidentified tip from neighbours claimed he and his wife were never at their London address, and the neighbor tries to launch a complaint in which they couldn’t succeed.
Welch was retrospectively dismissed from the Army, this means that he will not be able to benefit from the rank of retired major general, he has also been ordered to pay back the deceitfully claimed money.
Judge Advocate General Alan Large commented that Major Gen Welch knew from the outset that he was not entitled to the allowance.
Welch retired a two star general in 2019.
He also served in Afghanistan, Germany, Northern Ireland and Belize. Other than this he had been awarded a number of medals, including for his service in Northern Ireland, Afghanistan and for long service with good conduct.
Judge Advocate General Alan Large gave his remarks on the case saying that the panel of senior officers sentenced Welch, who is the most senior officer to face court martial since 1815, on the basis the defendant behaved dishonestly throughout. Judge Large commented that, “A disciplined organisation such as the Army relies on those in rank and authority to set an example and to be beyond reproach”.
He further commented that ‘The higher your rank, the more important it is that you uphold the values and standards of the Army in which you serve and when an officer of the rank of major general offends as you have, the potential to erode discipline and undermine morale is considerable’.
“We have no doubt you understand that your rank of major general and role as the assistant chief of general staff are factors which aggravate the offence and require recognition in the sentence”, he said.
Welch joined the Army back in 1984 and had served for more than 33 years when he retired in 2018 from his position as the assistant chief of general staff at Ministry of Defence (MoD) headquarters in London.
