Freeloader Jailed for 10 Months After Bamboozling Public Over Travel Fines
A 31-year-old man has been locked up for 10 months after repeatedly giving the name of an innocent man to dodge travel fines on Merseyside trains.
James Kelly’s Three-Year Ticket Trick
James Francis Kelly, from Gorsedale Road, Wirral, pleaded guilty to perverting the course of justice. Liverpool Crown Court sentenced him on Monday 3 July, also slapping on a £149 victim surcharge. Kelly’s scam started in October 2019 when caught travelling without a ticket on Merseyrail. Instead of owning up, he used a former school friend’s name to avoid paying.
Fraud Uncovered After Years of Dodging Penalties
Kelly didn’t stop there. Over nearly three years, he pulled the same stunt 26 times, racking up fines totaling £7,124.95 — all blamed on the innocent victim. The victim only found out when debt collectors started chasing him for the unexplained penalties. British Transport Police stepped in and exposed Kelly’s brazen fraud.
Police Slam Kelly’s ‘Blatant Attempt’ to Shift Blame
PC Marc Atkinson said: “This was a blatant attempt to shift the financial penalty of his own acts onto an innocent person, which, had it not been challenged and investigated, would have caused the victim substantial financial loss.” He added that Kelly’s scam wasn’t clever but certainly audacious, letting him skate on thousands in fines before finally being caught.
