Fare-dodging Thame lawyer escapes custodial sentence

A barrister from Thame who dodged rail fares from Haddenham Station into London for two years, avoided being sent to prison today.

Peter Burnett who dodged paying rail fares for two year (Image courtesy of central news

But 43 year-old Peter Barnett, a father of three, was given a 16 week prison sentence, suspended for 12 months, and was ordered to pay back nearly £6,000 to Chiltern Railways.

He dodged the full fare by getting off at Wembly Station and using his Oyster Card to travel on into London. He eventually gave himself up to Railway staff after first running off when challenged about his story at Marylebone station. The City of London Magistrates Court, where that Barnett was sentenced today, heard that he had previously received a conditional caution in 2010 for a similar offence.

Deputy District Judge, Olalekan Omotosho, told Barnett that his serial fare-skipping was a serious offence and that there was a need, not only for him to be punished for the offences, but that others needed to be deterred from committing similar offences. She told him: “It is a shame, really, because you had it all. It remains unclear why you acted so badly. You let yourself down and your family down, particularly in light of your profession as a lawyer.”

Peter Barnett is now unemployed as a lawyer and according to his lawyer, hopes to do charity work in the future.