Commander at RAF Fylingdales intelligence base in Yorkshire fraudulently claimed £83,000 for his sons' private school fees - and is now in disgrace and working as a train driver

Flight Lieutenant Wesley Healy, 41, was on the first line of defence if ballistic missiles were fired without warning at both the UK and the US.

However a military court was told that he is now an apprentice train driver after his high-flying RAF career was derailed by top brass who uncovered his £83,000 scam.

Healy admitted claiming an allowance given to RAF families which allows them to educate their children in private boarding schools, despite knowing he no longer qualified for the lucrative perk.

Healy and his wife Tracey separated, which meant the newly single officer no longer qualified for public money to put his two sons through an expensive private education.

But just three weeks after their divorce became final, Healy applied for the cash and claimed they were still living together.

Between October 2019 and June 2021, he made three separate applications for the money - known as Continuity Education Allowance (CEA) - totalling £82,928.

Catterick Military Court heard that Healy felt "a degree of animosity" towards the administrators of the CEA system because of previous dealings he'd had with them.

The scheme is designed to allow the children of service families to remain in good standard education even as their families move from one base to another.

However a major criteria for qualifying is that the family remains together.

Service personnel are warned that if the non-serving parent is the main carer they must give up the right to free private schooling - but Healy continued to rake in the cash.

Group Captain Stephen Wetton, prosecuting, said: "It was a breach of trust, a systematic theft repeated three times and £83,000 represents a high value loss.

"The effect on public trust in the integrity of the service in administering the education allowance is a significant aggravating factor."

The officer, who had 18 years service behind him, was a ballistic missile early warning crew commander at RAF Fylingdales in North Yorkshire.

The station provides a continuous missile early warning service to the UK and US governments, ensuring a surprise missile attack cannot succeed.

Assistant Judge Advocate General Edward Legard said Healy’s officer's rank - which places him in a pay band between £42,000 and £71,784 per year - made his offending more serious.

He told Healy: "There is no doubt in the minds of the Board that you intended to defraud the Ministry of Defence, whether or not that gave rise to actual loss.

"You made the first application three weeks after your divorce and continued to make them one or two years after that. You chose to maintain a falsehood.

"A disciplined organisation relies on those of rank and authority to set an example and be beyond reproach, particularly those who are commissioned.

"The higher the rank the more important it is to hold up the standards of the Royal Air Force. Defrauding the tax payer is not a victimless crime, far from it."

The court heard that Healy, from Malton, had left the RAF, but he was officially dismissed as he was handed a 12 month jail term suspended for 18 months.

Judge Advocate Legard said he and the court martial board had thought hard about sending Healy to an immediate prison term but concluded he was of low risk of reoffending and would be of more use serving part of his sentence in the community.

Jonathan Walker, mitigating, said that Healy, who admitted fraud, may have qualified for CEA had he applied truthfully for the money.

Because he looked after his boys for a significant period of time during holidays it is likely he would have been granted CEA, Mr Walker said.

But because he chose to lie his career and reputation lay in ruins. He was now a trainee driver with Transpennine Express and his proud military career was over, he said.

Mr Walker told the court: "He has lost his good name and all that goes with that, he is impacted significantly by this.

"He is truly ashamed of his actions and has a deep level of insight."