The teacher who blew the whistle on former Copland school head Alan Davies labelled his suspended prison sentence for false accounting “inadequate” yesterday.

Mr Davies was handed a 12-month term suspended for two years after admitting to six charges of false accounting, but was cleared of involvement in a £2.7 million bonuses fraud scandal.

He had been accused of trousering hundreds of thousands of pounds on top of his £160,000-a-year salary between April 2007 and June 2009.

A plea bargain saw him admit to false accounting worth £315,000 while avoiding more serious charges of conspiracy and money-laundering.

Mr Davies was berated by Judge Deborah Taylor for his “dishonest behaviour” but he was able to walk free from Southwark Crown Court.

Brave whistleblower Hank Roberts said he deserved to be behind bars and called for tougher laws to stop scams in private schools.

He told the Star: “I don’t think it’s adequate but nevertheless I think it’s a good thing that he will have a criminal conviction.

“If he hadn’t pleaded guilty he would have been given a custodial sentence.

“Do I think that those who know people in high places are capable of using their influence to cut deals? Yes.”

The former president of the ATL teaching union, which represents independent school staff, explained the scandal is the result of a legal loophole.

Prosecutor John Black QC was forced to concede bonus payments were not illegal and concretated on the “false paper trails” legitimising them.

Mr Roberts said: “You can set up a company within an independent school and end up paying yourself whatever you like for whatever work you like.

“It may be legal but it’s completely unethical and obviously the law should be changed.”

Defence QC William Clegg defended Mr Davies as “inspirational” and “one of the leading teachers of school children of his generation.”

However Judge Taylor told Mr Davies during sentencing that he showed “dishonesty with criminal intent.”

She said: “You lied to protect yourself.

“Had you not pleaded guilty this would have resulted in an immediate custodial setence.”