I have no idea, perhaps you could help me, why wealthy banker Joseph Molloy (and massive rail fare dodger) is not in jail today.
Good job he didn’t send a tweet! He would have got 31 months.
I’ve seen on a number of occasions at both Waterloo station and on the Tube, young men (always men) leaping the ticket barrier to avoid having the indignity of doing what the rest of us must i.e. paying.
I view them as SKIDS (SKINT IDLE DIM SOCIALISTS) and although I hate them making fools of us reckon they will live sad and desperate lives, and that will be enough of a sentence.
Molloy, 53, is different gravy. Until last year was head of passive equity at HSBC Global Asset Management and had done well enough to live with his family in a £2million house in Orpington, Kent.
That didn’t stop him on 740 different occasions from using a sophisticated ticketing scam, saving him £5,911 on the route from his home to London Bridge station and then to his office in Canary Wharf.
He had been clearly thinking about his fraud. Apparently, it’s known in the business as ‘’ doughnutting’’. The banker used false names and addresses to buy two key smartcards on which train tickets were uploaded between October 2023 and September the following year.
He then bought tickets at the beginning and at the end of his journey, but did not pay for the stations in between. The trick exploits ticket barriers and creates a hole in the payment. You are only paying for a percentage of the journey, not all of it.
So, he wasn’t short of money; he just didn’t want to pay for the service or wanted to spend it on something else. We’re all in that position.
I found his brief’s defence quite the thinnest I’ve heard in a long time and in many ways plain wrong. The counsel’s name is Will Hanson. My advice to criminals, unless you fancy a longer sentence, is to keep well away from him.
Firstly, he said this; ‘’ It is a fraud that is discreet in nature. ‘’ That, Mr Hanson, is the basis of all fraud. If you advertise it, you get found out very quickly.
Secondly, he said this; ‘’ Committed again, no individual and no one from the public was made to suffer, and a large private company was the victim.’’ I detest that argument.
Rail fare evasion costs £240million a year, and therefore we all pay more because of the Molloys of this world.
How can a top banker escape jail for fare dodging 740 times when a tweeter gets 31 months? - Kelvin MacKenzieThe suggestion that a ‘’large private company’’ was the victim means it’s okay, must be the worst defence I’ve ever heard. Large, medium or small, a crime is a crime. Molloy would clearly have defrauded anybody if he could get away with it.
He then wheeled out the tried and tested formula, claiming Molloy was suffering from stress ( didn’t stop him thinking up this scam) caused by health difficulties and the death of his mother. Imagine her health hadn’t been helped had she known what her son was up to.
Hanson finished his defence by saying Molloy was ‘’involved’’ in his community (well done) and his church (even better done) and was a supportive father (as distinct from an unsupportive father). Congratulations.
None of that wishes away a sophisticated fraud. He should have gone to jail to warn other passengers (especially wealthy ones) that there is a price for being a criminal dodger.
As ever, the judge didn’t jail Molloy. Is anybody jailed for anything except drug distribution these days? He received ten months, suspended for 18 months and was ordered to pay Southeastern Railways £5,000 compensation.
Since Molloy had fiddled £5,911 out of the railways, what happened to the other £911? That was no penalty. He should, with his wealth, be forced to pay ten times the fraud. That would bring Molloy and others up short.
Further, he was ordered not to travel on Southeastern for 12 months. Imagine he will receive plenty of stares next time he does go on Orpington station.
Molloy did not want his neighbours to know that he was a fare dodger. In order to hide his identity, Molloy changed his clothes in the court buildings to make it difficult to be spotted and vaulted a wall to avoid being photographed.
Vaulted a wall at 53? Mmmm. With that skill, I trust staff on the London Underground will be looking out for him at the ticket barriers.
Fortunately, a news agency found a work photo, and that was issued, but there are too many cases of people being able to hide their faces when appearing in court.
It should be mandatory that the police file photo is issued to the Press. Local shame is a major part of the sentence, especially when they have escaped a jail sentence.
Molloy is a cunning guy who has got away with it. The rest of us pay the price.
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