Lottery winner accused of faking £2.5m ticket

A former bricklayer has been told he will face prosecution for allegedly faking a National Lottery ticket that won him £2.5m nine years ago.

Edward Putman, 53, became the subject of an investigation by Hertfordshire’s Serious Fraud and Cyber Unit after evidence emerged that suggested the payout claim was not genuine.

The charge of fraud by false representation follows a three-year probe.

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The winning numbers - 6, 9, 20, 21, 31 and 34 - were drawn on 11 March 2009 and were said to have matched a ticket bought in Worcestershire.

The winnings were paid to Putman “after then-Camelot chief executive Dame Dianne Thompson reportedly personally called Putman before authorising the jackpot payout even though the ticket allegedly did not have a working barcode”, says the Daily Mail.

Camelot, who runs the National Lottery, were fined £3m in 2016 by the Gambling Commission for paying out on the claim.

The watchdog found there were “serious failures” over the payout and that the prize was probably won with a “deliberately damaged ticket”, but said it could not be certain that “a fraud had taken place”.

On winning the sum, Putman “had asked for ‘no publicity’ and is said to have only told a handful of friends”, reports The Daily Telegraph.

He used the winnings “to buy two homes in Kings Langley, Hertfordshire - one for £600,000 and another for £400,000 - and had a fleet of around a dozen cars in the grounds”, adds the newspaper.

Putman has been released on bail to appear at St Albans Magistrates’ Court on 16 October.