'Superhead' banned from teaching after paying himself two salaries

Liam Nolan was the executive headteacher, chief executive officer and accounting officer at Perry Beeches Academy Trust, which was based in Great Barr until it closed earlier this year.

He resigned in 2016 after it was revealed he had been paid an extra £160,000 of public money on top of his £120,000 salary.

The 51-year-old was found guilty of professional misconduct by a panel of the Teaching Regulation Agency.

The panel found that Nolan had paid almost £1.3 million to procurement firm Nexus Schools Ltd without following proper procedures.

Nexus paid Nolan £160,000 through his company, Liam Nolan Ltd, for his work as CEO. But this was not noted in the trust's 2013-14 financial statements.

He received the £160,000 over two years on top of his normal £120,000 salary.

Nolan's financial arrangements breached the rules by being outside the payroll.

The panel also noted that Nolan had received a reprimand from the General Teaching Council for England following a criminal conviction in 2007.

But the conviction was unrelated to the proceedings and the reprimand would have expired after two years, the panel added.

Sarah Lewis, who handed down the ban on behalf of Education Secretary Damian Hinds, said: "The findings of misconduct are particularly serious in this case as they include a finding of lack of integrity and in support of this the panel say that Mr Nolan had a, 'cavalier attitude to his role as accounting officer, which the panel found involved a lack of integrity on his part'."

Andrew Faux, Nolan's barrister said he had expressed regret that he let down the children.

He said: "He regrets that his failure to understand and adhere to the high standards expected of an accounting officer let to the collapse of Perry Beeches.

"He has expressed regret to the panel that by his actions he let down the children of Birmingham."

Perry Beeches Academy had been previously praised by the Education Secretary at the time, Michael Gove, who said it was an example of what could be achieved under his academy and free school policies.

Nolan was banned from teaching indefinitely by the panel, but may apply for the ban to be lifted in 2020.

In 2016 it was revealed the trust had a deficit of £2.1m and two schools were placed in special measures.

Last year Nolan was appointed headteacher of Ruth Gorse Academy in Leeds.