A businessman who used a dead man’s prized Lord’s Cricket Ground membership card in a “despicable” bid to gain access to the best seats at the venue has been spared jail but fined £10,000.
James Lattimer bought the card on eBay, giving him a “passport to a prestigious world” in which he had access to an exclusive members-only area of the world-famous ground.
Despite not actually being a member, the father-of-one was even sporting a Marylebone Cricket Club tie when he was stopped at the London venue last August.
The 51-year-old had put his photograph onto a card which belonged to a member who died in 2014.
He had bought a general ticket to enter the ground but carried the membership card to get into the exclusive pavilion.
Southwark Crown Court heard Lords membership is “very sought-after”.
It costs £1,000 to become a member, with a £600 annual fee thereafter, and there is a 29-year waiting list with 12,000 people on it, the court heard.
Sentencing Lattimer on Wednesday Judge Michael Grieve QC said: “The use of a deceased person’s identity for any purpose is despicable and likely to cause great distress to (their) relatives.”
He added: “The forged document was your passport to a prestigious world and the best seats in the ground.
“You acquired the privilege people wait half a lifetime to acquire.”
Lattimer, of Green Road in Bournemouth, stood in the dock and did not react as he was handed a 10-month sentence, suspended for 18 months.
He was told he must pay a £10,000 fine as well as prosecution costs of £425, and carry out 150 hours of unpaid work.
Suspending the sentence the judge acknowledged Lattimer, who runs a corporate cleaning company, had been “very publicly disgraced” over the offence, but added: “You have brought all of this on yourself.”
He said Lattimer was not aware the card belonged to someone who had died and was remorseful for what he had done.
