Rapist ‘used fake ticket’ to claim £2.5m lottery jackpot
Alleged fraud comes to light after Camelot is fined for wrongly paying out multimillion-pound prize
THE National Lottery wrongly paid a convicted fraudster and rapist £2.5 million after he allegedly used a fake ticket to fraudulently claim the jackpot.
Edward Putman, 51, was paid the sum by Camelot in 2009 using a ticket which the company now says was “deliberately damaged”. The former labourer’s victory caused outrage at the time after it emerged he had been convicted of rape and went on to fraudulently claim benefits after his multimillion-pound “win”.
Yesterday it emerged that Putman – who used the “winnings” to buy two homes in Kings Langley, Herts, worth a combined £1.2 million and a fleet of sports cars – should never have been paid the money. Camelot has not been paid any of the money back and says it is now “considering its options”. Putman has so far declined to comment on these allegations. The alleged fraud came to light after the Gambling Commission fined the lottery operator £3 million yesterday over the incident and said that police had been informed. Hertfordshire police say they have investigated but do not have enough evidence to proceed with a case. Putman was told in February he faced no further action unless new evidence emerges. It is understood Camelot was unaware of its error for six years until October last year when it was contacted by a whistleblower. Camelot refused to comment when asked yesterday whether there was any suggestion the alleged fraud was carried out with the aid of an insider. A spokesman for Camelot, whose headquarters is in Watford, six miles from Kings Langley, said many members of staff had since moved on, making it difficult to investigate. It is believed the win relates to a £2.5 million jackpot from March 2009 which was claimed in September 2009, just days before the 180-day limit for claiming prizes expired. Putman was paid the money into an account with St James’s Bank, the bank which Camelot recommends to winners.
Previously it had been reported that Putman had won £5 million. However, sources told The Daily Telegraph his win was £2.5 million and had been incorrectly reported. Despite choosing to remain anonymous to hide his wealth from friends and family, his win was revealed when he was convicted of a £13,000 benefit fraud in 2012.
He had been claiming benefits on the grounds he was “too ill” to work and “too broke to eat” and on the “brink of eviction” despite living in a £600,000 property filled with expensive cars and owning a second £400,000 property in the area. Putman was caught by investigators after he tried to buy a council house using £84,000 in cash.
The sentencing judge in 2012, Andrew Bright QC, described his actions as “greed on a scale which, frankly, defies belief ”. Details also emerged of his rape conviction from 1991, in which he was sentenced to seven years for breaking into a property and raping and assaulting a 17-year-old girl who was pregnant. In the Eighties he was convicted of wounding a neighbour.
Andy Duncan, Camelot’s chief executive, apologised for the incident. “We accept that, at the time, there were some weaknesses in some of the specific controls relevant to this incident and we’re very sorry for that,” he said.
“This allegation relates to a one-off incident dating back to 2009 and involves a potentially fraudulent claim on a deliberately damaged ticket. It has nothing to do with the National Lottery draws.” The Gambling Commission said Camelot had taken steps to avoid a similar problem happening again.
Tom Watson, the shadow culture secretary, called for an urgent statement by the Government on what he called “the great Lotto robbery”. He said: “Camelot has very serious questions to answer. So, too, do ministers.”
The commission ruled Camelot breached the terms of its licence over control of its databases, the way it investigated prize claims and its processes “around the decision to pay a prize”.