£2.5m Lotto winner denies landing jackpot by fraud
Edward Putman’s winning ticket was a fake produced by a Camelot security worker, jurors are told
FOR six years, builder Edward Putman is alleged to have lived happily on the proceeds of an apparent £2.5 million lottery windfall. But the “secret” fraud was exposed when a friend killed himself following an angry confrontation over how the winnings were divided, a court heard.
Mr Putman, 54, is accused of submitting a fake ticket in 2009 in order to claim an unclaimed jackpot.
St Albans Crown Court heard how he conspired with his friend Giles Knibbs – who worked in the security department at Camelot – to generate a bogus ticket for the outstanding prize.
But the pair allegedly fell out over the division of the proceeds. Mr Knibbs only received around £330,000 of the £2,525,485 jackpot, jurors heard, and in June 2015 broke into Mr Putnam’s home to confront him.
He was arrested on suspicion of burglary, blackmail and criminal damage, but took his own life four months later with the allegations still hanging over him.
Police were told he had confided in friends about the alleged scam because he was terrified it would be exposed.
Opening the case against Mr Putman, prosecutor James Keeley said the pair acted together to defraud the National Lottery.
The court heard there was “some trial and error” in producing the fake ticket because there were 100 different possible unique codes on the bottom.
It is claimed that Mr Knibbs created numerous different tickets, each with a different combination of numbers. Then, with the deadline to claim the prize rapidly approaching, Mr Putman allegedly visited 29 different shops, providing a different ticket each time, before the right number was found.
Mr Keeley said the accused finally submitted the correct code at a shop in High Wycombe on Aug 29, 2009.
Evidence suggested that Mr Knibbs was paid an initial £280,000 from Mr Putman for his part in the alleged con, followed by much smaller increments totalling £50,000.
But he was angry not to receive more and clashed bitterly with Mr Putman in 2015 over what he considered had been his friend’s “betrayal”.
The court was told how a friend staying with Mr Knibbs before his suicide claimed he had been terrified that the lottery fraud would emerge.
Mr Putman, from Kings Langley, Hertfordshire, denies fraud by false representation. The trial continues.