An associate has been struck off for pretending family members had died so that she could get her train tickets refunded. She said she did it pay off her Legal Practice Course debts, and has now exiled herself to Australia.

Nancy Lee, who was a property lawyer at Russells Solicitors, successfully claimed a refund for a train ticket in 2009 on the basis that she did not use it because a family member had died. When a group of train companies audited their refunds in 2013, they noticed that Lee had claimed a very large number using the same reason.

At Westminster Magistrates Court Lee admitted "stupidly" using the same excuse repeatedly and pleaded guilty to five counts of fraud. She was ordered to repay £711.11 in bogus refunds, and Russells sacked her. “With hindsight, I can see that it was entirely inappropriate to re-use a tried and tested excuse on more than one occasion to obtain refunds", said Lee. "Especially such a distasteful one.”

"According to our records you've both died 14 times"

Far from being deceased, Lee's parents represented the Nottingham University graduate at her Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal hearing in June. Her mum explained that Lee could not appear in person because she had moved to Australia as "a form of self-imposed exile" (after spending a year as an Events Manager in Ibiza). In a letter Lee said that her behaviour was a consequence of having to repay money she had borrowed to fund her law degree and pay her LPC fees, and that her commute from her home in London to the office in Kent left her “exhausted and stressed”, which led to a “lack of judgment”.

The Tribunal struck Lee off the Roll and ordered her to pay costs of £2,321.