Major General becomes highest ranking Army officer to be convicted at court martial for 200 years after he was found guilty of fraudulently claiming £48k to pay his children’s private school fees
- Major General Nick Welch, 57, abused Continuity of Education Allowance (CEA)
- Sent 2 of his children to the £37,000-a-year Clayesmore School and £22,500-a-year Hanford School, both in Dorset
- Maj Gen Welch lied to Army that they were living in military quarters in London
- They in fact spent most time at their Dorset home, breaching allowance rules
A Major General has become the most-senior officer to be convicted at a court martial since 1815 after he was found guilty of fraudulently claiming £48,000.
Major General Nick Welch, 57, claimed the funds to send two of his children to the £37,000-a-year Clayesmore School and £22,500-a-year Hanford School, both in Dorset, Bulford Military Court heard.
The two-star general had applied for the allowance on the basis that both he and his wife lived in military quarters in London – and therefore were not close to children’s schools.
But they in fact spent most of their time at their £800,000 Dorset home.
Major General Nick Welch, 57, claimed £48,000 to send two of his children to the £37,000-a-year Clayesmore School and £22,500-a-year Hanford School, both in Dorset, Bulford Military Court heard
Maj Gen Welch had denied fraud, saying he thought he satisfied the ‘underlying principles’ of the allowance rules as long as he and wife Charlotte, 54, ‘endeavoured to be together’.
He was today found to have abused the Continuity of Education Allowance (CEA) in claiming the cash.
Maj Gen Welch – who has a glittering career and an OBE – is the most senior officer to face a court martial since 1815, when a Lieutenant General was convicted during the Napoleonic wars.
The 57-year-old, pictured in Afghanistan with then-Prime Minister David Cameron, denied fraud