Diana’s Oxford educated barrister accused of £2m tax dodge

Robert Venables, a barrister for Diana, Princess of Wales, is on trial for allegedly dodging nearly £2 million in tax.

Starting his evidence at Southwark Crown Court, Venables said he had entertainers, aristocrats, big businesses, and sports stars as clients, and revealed he had royalty on his books at times.

“After the Queen, she was the most famous woman in the world,” he said, alluding to Diana as a former client without directly using her name.

“She was killed in a car crash in Paris.”

Southwark Crown Court, in South London (Image: PA)

Venables faces three charges of tax evasion over his annual statements of his earnings, and is accused of setting up an “elaborate” system for his income as a barrister which meant he did not pay tax on part of the earnings.

The court heard Venables channelled his earnings through a body called the RVQC Partnership, where he was the sole earner but the profits were distributed to partners including himself, allegedly to lower his tax liability.

The South Yorkshire-born lawyer, who was Oxford educated, said he came from a humble background, raising pigs, hens, and ducks in the back garden to raise extra money.

Venables said he won a scholarship to go to Grammar School, and then landed a place at Merton College, Oxford to study classics.

During his university studies, he worked as a postman, waiter, barman, and in a South Yorkshire iron foundry, and he then pivoted towards law with a second two-year degree at Oxford.