Very well said, SND. This is a truly appalling story. I am a (long time) private pilot and ex-instructor married to a commercial pilot, so I have a foot in both camps so to speak. That a private pilot was masquerading as a qualified commercial pilot is effectively fraud, Plenty people must have been aware of it.
My simplistic view is first that every pilot has a duty of care to his or her passengers, regardless. Ibbotson failed us all by what reads to be a cavalier and illegal approach to that duty. That taints us all in the eyes of the public.
That cavalier approach to safety and law appears to have been part and parcel of how this aircraft was being operated. It cannot have been accidental or due to unintended 'oversights'.
Given how firmly the CAA imply they will prosecute on any minor operational transgressions we may carry out, I do hope they will pursue this strongly, even if a conviction is unlikely to result, This is worth doing to try to discourage some of this 'grey' illegal activity and to make Joe & Joanna Public more aware and more alert to the risks.