Man racks up £7k fine in mate’s name after pretending to be him – for three years

'This was a blatant attempt to shift the financial penalty of his own acts'

Liverpool Crown Court was told that James Francis Kelly had been repeatedly giving the name of an innocent man, who he used, when he was fined for travelling without a ticket across Merseyside.

The 31-year-old, or Wirral, was eventually caught and was sentenced this week, the Liverpool Echo reported.

Kelly pleaded guilty to committing a series of acts with intent to pervert the course of public justice and was also ordered to pay a victim surcharge of £149.

His deception began in October 2019, and instead of giving his own name when caught without a ticket, he gave his friend's details.

Over the next three years, up until July 2022, Kelly repeated the behaviour 26 times.

The victim only learned of Kelly's trick when he received a collection letter demanding payment for the offences he had been convicted of in his absence.

The British Transport Police later identified Kelly as the offender.

Investigating officer 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.

"This was not a sophisticated scam by any means but Kelly's audacity meant that for three years he accumulated fines of up to £7,124.95 and passed them onto an innocent person."

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