Lawyer says his restitution for dodging thousands in train fares should reflect weekly pass rate
A prominent British attorney with star credentials who once worked for one of London’s most profitable law firms is now making headines for a different reason.
Peter Barnett, 43, is accused of bilking Chiltern Railways of 23,000 pounds in unpaid train fares, by pretending over a period of more than two years that he had taken a shorter trip than the commute between his Oxford area home and London, reports the Mirror.
“If it is accepted that the loss was £23,000, this defendant would be convicted of the biggest rail evasion case that has come to the court in the United Kingdom,” prosecutor Malachy Pakenham told Westminster Magistrates’ Court on Friday.
However, the Daily Mail reported earlier that a former millionaire fund manager had dodged 43,000 pounds in train fares.
Barnett pleaded guilty last month to fraud by false representation, as the Daily Mail reported at the time. He has agreed to make full restitution, but is challenging the 23,000-pound figure.
The unpaid fares should be calculated based on the cost of a weekly train pass and take into account time he spent on vacation, Barnett argues, which would bring the total figure he owes to 9,714.40 pounds.
That amounts to a little over $14,000 in U.S. dollars, at the current exchange rate. The 23,000 pounds the railway is seeking is approximately $33,000.
Barnett earned his law degree from the University of Oxford and is the author of a book on international law.
