A shamed head teacher will still have to pay back the money he pocketed as part of a school’s bonuses scandal after his request to appeal was dismissed.

Alan Davies, former head teacher at Copland Community School in Wembley, paid himself thousands of pounds in illegal bonuses for several years.

On one occasion he took home £400,000, which was three times the going rate for his position.

Davies took his case against Brent Council to the Court of Appeal, but it was refused on the grounds that, if it was taken forward, there would be “no real prospect of success”.

Cllr Margaret McLennan, deputy leader of Brent Council, said: “I’m pleased that the Court of Appeal has refused Alan Davies the chance to appeal the High Court ruling that he received vast sums in unlawful bonuses and must pay back nearly £1.4 million.

“Davies fiddled the system to pay himself these outrageous bonuses. He now needs to pay back every penny he stole from the education of local school children and I am grateful to everyone who helped bring this disgraced former head teacher to justice.”

The High Court found that Davies had breached his duty with the council in this case.

He had previously been knighted for his services to education but was stripped of his title in 2014 following his conviction for false accounting a year earlier.