A RETIRED policeman who encouraged his 'vulnerable' son to join him in an £85,000 fraud centred on his Sedbergh-based private ambulance business has been sent to prison for two years.

Former sergeant Dalvin Dawkins, 54, got his 21-year-old son Matthew involved after telling him the cash he was obtaining through bogus credit card transactions was 'ghost money' and therefore did not belong to anybody, Carlisle Crown Court heard.

Matthew Dawkins went along with the scam because he was too weak-willed to argue with his domineering father, defence counsel Janet Ironfield told the judge.

“His father was of considerable influence in his life – a controlling and manipulative individual,” she said.

“He was a serving police officer and, colloquially as well as in fact, his word was law.”

Ms Ironfield said that Matthew Dawkins had discovered almost by chance that money could be obtained by entering false codes into his company’s credit card terminal.

His father told him he thought the device was broken, and undertook to mend it, but instead of repairing it, she said, he used it to carry out the fraud, which his son felt obliged to go along with.

The court heard that Dalviin Dawkins was off sick from his job as a sergeant in Morecambe when he became involved with his son and daughter-in-law in the fraud connected with Sedbergh Lifeline, which provided first aid care, training and equipment from an office in Main Street, Sedbergh, where they all lived.

He helped launder the so-called ‘dirty money’ money through his own bank account after it had been obtained by entering false authorisation codes into the firm’s credit card terminal.

Last week the disgraced ex policeman – who, the court heard, has recently been working as a shelf stacker in a supermarket – was found guilty of fraud, money laundering and possessing £22,000 he knew had come from criminal activity.

He had pleaded not guilty to all the charges.

When Dalvin Dawkins returned to court to be sentenced today his barrister Philip Andrews told the judge his client 'utterly rejects' his son’s account and denied being manipulative and domineering.

He accepted that Dawkins’ having been a police officer made his offences more serious, but told the judge that fact should not result in a 'disproportionate sentence'.

“The shame that has fallen upon him is a punishment in itself,” he said.

“Knowing he faces an inevitable prison sentence, he is an utterly shattered and desperately frightened man.”

Passing sentence Judge Paul Batty QC told Dalvin Dawkins: “I view you as an utterly dishonest, utterly devious and utterly manipulative man.

"By your conduct you have brought the good name of the Lancashire police force into disrepute.”

The judge accused Dawkins of exercising 'a degree of control' over his son, who he said was vulnerable because of various problems in his life.

“You bear an extremely heavy responsibility – not only criminal, but also moral – for what occurred,” he said.

Matthew Dawkins pleaded guilty to 33 charges of fraud, totalling nearly £100,000, and one of money laundering and was jailed for 21 months.

His 20-year-old wife Zarina Gray Dawkins was found guilty of money laundering and fraud – both involving smaller sums of money than the two men.

She was given two years probation supervision and made to do 150 hours unpaid community work.

At the end of the hearing Judge Batty praised the two detectives who helped put Dawkins and his son behind bars.

He said he was so impressed by the way Detective Constables Cath Rogerson and Kelly Hayton tackled a complicated fraud case that he would be contacting chief constable Craig Mackey, recommending them both for official commendations.

He said their 'hard work and diligence' in investigating the case against retired Lancashire police sergeant Dalvin Dawkins, 54, was a credit to the Cumbrian force.