Jurors at St Albans Crown Court found Putman (pictured outside court today) guilty of fraud by false representation on today after a two-week trial
A convicted rapist and fraudster who used a forged ticket to trick the National Lottery into paying out a £2.5 million jackpot was today found guilty.
Edward Putman, 54, was convicted after a jury heard evidence from beyond the grave from his co-conspirator and Camelot insider Giles Knibbs.
Knibbs, 38, sought vengeance on his former friend because he had not given him his agreed shared of the winnings from the draw on March 11, 2009.
The scam only came to light over six years later, on 5 October 2015, when Mr Knibbs committed suicide at Ivinghoe Beacon in Bucks.
St Albans crown court heard that before he died Knibbs told friends of his conspiracy with Putman, a builder who had worked on an extension at his home in Bricket Wood, Herts.
In June 2015 Putman had gone to the police alleging Knibbs had threatened to reveal his previous convictions for the rape of a 17 year old girl in 1991 and a benefits fraud in 2012.
He also reported that Knibbs had stolen his mobile phone and damaged the wing mirror on his car.
As a result Knibbs was arrested. He told a former partner John Coleyshaw: ‘It looks like I am going down for 10 to 15 years for blackmail.’
Mr Coleyshaw told the jury: ‘He was in a bad way because he was worried by thought of going to prison. For want of a better word he had been shafted by someone he considered to be a good friend.’
Mr Coleyshaw said Knibbs told him he had been working late at Camelot and came across details of unclaimed lottery tickets dates, times and locations of sale.
The jury of 7 women and 5 men, who were not told of Putman’s previous convictions, heard it was just 10 days before the six-month deadline for claims that the builder came forward with the ticket, which had been sold at the Co-op at St John’s Road, Worcester.
Edward Putman, 54, (pictured before his Lotto win) claimed the jackpot on 28 August 2009 – just 10 days before the prize ticket from 11 March was due to expire
It had the winning numbers: 6,9,20,21, and 34. When Putman made the call to Camelot to claim the prize he said he found the ticket under the seat of his van. It was missing its bottom part, which contained unique numbers.
But Camelot, where Knibbs had worked between 2004 and 2010 in the fraud department, had been conned and verified the ticket as genuine.
When Putman of Station Road, Kings Langley, Herts collected £2,525,485, he said he wanted to remain anonymous.
Prosecutor James Keeley said that unidentified deposits totalling £83,440 were paid into Knibbs’ bank accounts. He had purchased 12 Wildwood Avenue, Bricket Wood on 9 June 2010 for £320,000.
A mortgage of £225,499 had been obtained from Barclays. Four payments were made in May 2010 totalling £106,830.
Mr Keeley said there were also cash withdrawals from Mr Putman’s account saying it was reasonable to infer that at least some of the cash credits represented the partial distribution to Knibbs from the proceeds of the fraud.
But he said Knibbs was expecting to receive several hundred thousand pounds and ‘came to the conclusion that the defendant was rescinding the agreement.’
Mr Knibbs’ partner Olivier Orphelin told said he had been introduced by Giles to Eddie Putman and his partner Lita. He described Eddie as ‘loud and liked to show off.’ He said Lita was a ‘lovely lady.’
In May and June 2015 he asked Giles why they were not seeing them. He was told by Giles it was because Eddie owed him a lot of money.
To carry out the fraud, Knibbs had to create 100 tickets with the winning numbers because each ticket had a unique ‘Check Sum’ number made up of two digits.
The allegedly fake and damaged ticket for the March 11th 2009 draw had the winning numbers of six; nine; 20, 21, 31 and 34 on it. Mr Putman’s Hertfordshire home is pictured above
Putman had to try 29 shops with 29 different tickets before the right number was found. Mr Keeley said: ‘We now know that the defendant struck lucky at North Town Stores in High Wycombe.’
But the prosecutor said the ticket produced by the defendant was a fake because it was printed on paper not used at the Co-op in Worcester until after the draw.
The police investigation was impeded by the inability of Camelot to locate the original of the forged winning ticket. It was only reopened in 2017 when the ticket was eventually located by an employee at Camelot called Henna Chohan.
In December 2016 Camelot was fined £3 million by the Gambling Commission for breaching its controls relating to databases, the way it investigated a prize claims and it processes around the decision to pay a prize.
Putman, who arrived at court with his face masked and wearing dark
glasses, denied that between 28 August and 8 September 2009, together
ith Giles Knibbs, he dishonestly made a false representation, namely produced a fraudulent National Lottery ticket, intending to make a gain, namely £2,525,485 for himself.
The jury of 5 men and 7 women found him guilty.
Lawrence Selby said the fine Camelot received have gone to good causes.
Judge Philip Grey will sentence later.
A confiscation timetable is to be put in place.