Former UK MP Katie Wallis gets conditional discharge for altering passport image to bypass gambling self-exclusion

Katie Wallis, a former Conservative MP for Bridgend who held the seat between 2019 and 2024, has been given a nine-month conditional discharge at Cardiff Crown Court. She admitted altering the date on an image of her passport so she could get onto a gambling website despite being self-excluded.

The original charges were formally dropped in the form of an acquittal after Wallis agreed to plead guilty to a different offence under the Computer Misuse Act. Judge Shomon Khan presided over the case. Prosecutors noted that she had co-operated in bringing the matter to a resolution.

The court heard that Wallis used her own computer to edit the date shown on a digital copy of her passport, then used the image to get past the restrictions and deposit money with the gambling site. The money was lost, though no other person suffered a financial loss. The passport itself was genuine and had not been tampered with, and she had not tried to pass herself off as someone else.

According to the BBC, the defence argued that Wallis had been suffering from a serious mental disorder after a period of major personal difficulties. These included coming out as transgender while serving as an MP, a family separation and publicly disclosing that she had been raped. In a written plea, she also admitted to having a problem with gambling. Prosecutor Richard Posner acknowledged this and told the court she had previously signed up to GamStop, the self-exclusion scheme that blocks access to UK-licensed online gambling platforms. She has since renewed her request to be excluded.

Judge Khan described the offence as a single impulsive act committed during a period of psychological distress and said Wallis had presented compelling personal mitigation. A conditional discharge means she faces no further punishment provided she commits no further offences during the nine months.

The case comes as GamStop reports a 16% rise in registrations this year, which points to growing awareness of problem gambling as well as a larger number of people seeking help. Separately, new UK Gambling Commission research indicates that people who gamble on illegal websites are seven times more likely to experience problem gambling than users of legal sites, among whom the rate is 6%.