A WHISTLE blower has welcomed the arrest of ex-Copland school head Sir Alan Davies today.

Sir Alan Davies, 64, Dr Richard Evans, 53, and a 50-year-old woman were arrested this morning by detectives investigating alleged bonuses at the school, in Cecile Avenue.

All will be interviewed at north-west London police stations and none have been charged.

Hank Roberts, who first brought allegations of bonuses at the school, welcomed police action but said it should have come sooner.

He said: “I know police want to be extremely careful and meticulous in dealing with something like this.

“It's not an international financial scandal or drug ring so it's distressing that it's taken two years but I'm very pleased it's occurred."

The arrests came after a lengthy investigation by the fraud squad which in turn followed a probe by Brent Council.

The local authority's inquiry led to the sacking of Dr Evans and the resignations of Sir Alan Davies and two other managers.

Details sent to the board of governors at an interim stage in the probe show council officers believed Sir Alan had been paid more than £600,000 on top of his salary over five years.

The letter also contained allegations that Dr Evans had been paid more than £300,000 over and above his basic pay over the same period and that more than £1 million was paid out in total.

The document states much of the cash paid to Sir Alan and Dr Evans came in the form of project management fees for a scheme to rebuild the school.

Dr Indravadan Patel MBE, chair of governors at the school, admitted Sir Alan had been paid two bonuses worth £50,000 and £80,000 over two years after allegations first emerged in April 2009.

At the time he said: “This is not money for nothing.

“We expect them to work hard for it, and they do, which is why we have such excellent results.

“The bonuses were – as all bonuses should be – paid in recognition of the excellent work done by Sir Alan, well above and beyond what would be expected from any normal headteacher.

“We believe that Sir Alan is worth every penny and we are proud to have him as our headteacher.”

Dr Patel argued Sir Alan has brought in £300,000 in sponsorship for the specialist science community college, helped to draw in finance for the future redevelopment of Copland School, and run a Saturday school.

Pupils at the school said they were pleased the matter was being investigated. Waqas Ishtiaq, 18, said: “The budget is so low now that we have to pay for any retakes of exams, we have to buy our own textbooks and we had to have our prom in the school hall instead of hiring a venue.

“We even have to pay £5 for our ID cards which we need to get into school."

Hamid Tahir, 17, said: “He was here for five to ten years telling us that he was going to build a new school, showing us plans that he'd made."