Man accused of faking winning ticket in UK Lottery Fraud Case heads to Court

A £2.5m lottery fraud case is currently being heard at St. Albans Crown Court in the UK. It’s claimed Edward Putman worked with a National Lottery employee to win the lottery.

Faking the winning ticket

54-year-old Putman from Hertfordshire denies the allegation of committing fraud in 2009 and claiming £2.5m with a fake ticket.[caption id="attachment_16277" align=aligncenter width=660] Edward Putman has denied the allegations (Image: BBC)[/caption]Giles Knibbs, the lottery insider, knew how to produce a fake ticket. Knibbs passed it to Putman to obtain a prize that had been unclaimed since a draw on 11 March 2009. They waited until August, just before the six-month deadline to claim the huge jackpot.Knibbs took his own life in 2015 and the alleged fraud was uncovered soon after. Knibbs had found a way to cheat the system.Knibbs had worked in the fraud detection department of Camelot from 2004 until 2010, and his role enabled him to create a fake ticket. Knibbs saw a list of unclaimed prizes and created a ticket to match the winning numbers of a prize that was about to expire."He did not hold the winning ticket, but a forgery created by Mr Knibbs," prosecutor James Keeley said. The actual winning ticket has never been discovered.Keeley told the court that the fraud had been discovered after Knibbs of Bricket Wood, Hertfordshire, took his life in 2015.

Insider knowledge led to a win

Knibbs allegedly told friends that he had “conned” the lottery, and gave examples of inaccuracies that could be found on the ticket.Keeley said: "The veracity of his [Knibbs'] narrative and thus credibility is strongly supported by the forged ticket which the defendant could not have acquired by legitimate means."Knibbs felt he had not received a fair share of the winnings, and he and Putman had an argument just months before he took his life.Keeley continued by telling the court there was strong evidence to suggest Knibbs had received £280,000, and further payments of £50,000 for his part in the scam.After the argument, Putman made allegations of burglary and blackmail against Knibbs. He was subsequently arrested.The prosecutor told the court that the ticket was "lacking the entire bottom section”, but Camelot decided the ticket was a genuine winner and paid out the jackpot on September 8. Keeley stated, “they had been conned.”The two-week lottery fraud trial continues with a verdict due soon.