A lottery jailbird who forged a ticket to claim a £2.5million jackpot could be set to earn £350,000 from the sale of his abandoned house.
Edward Putman, 57, was jailed in 2009 for the fraud, in which he shared the multi-million prize with a National Lottery employee who later took his own life.
The fraudster was originally jailed in 1993 for the rape of a 17-year-old pregnant girl.
His derelict home near the M25 in Kings Langley, Hertfordshire, which was taken off him when he refused to give back the money, has now sold for £1.2million at auction, The Mirror reports.
Putman paid off just £94,000 of a £939,000 confiscation order, meaning he could still make off with £355,000 after settling his debts.
Lottery jailbird Edward Putman who forged a ticket to claim a £2.5million jackpot could be set to earn £350,000 from the sale of his abandoned house
The abandoned property is located on South Bend, Station Road, Kings Langley, Hertfordshire
The convicted sex offender forged a Lotto ticket to claim a £2.5million jackpot with an employee at Camelot
However, the court could still increase the value of the order.
The property and land were sold under the Proceeds of Crimes Acts and had attracted almost 400 bids.
James Ashworth, of Landwood Property Auctions, told the Mirror: ‘The property exceeded our expectations with more than one bid per second. The competition generated was fantastic and it will be interesting to see what the buyer does with it.’
The neglected house was left in ruins after the property was abandoned for over a decade – made worse after fire damage last October left it with a large hole in the roof.
The boarded-up four-bedroom house is infested with weeds and dampness as the home is missing part of its roof.
It is thought that the scruffy property, close to the M25, was originally bought with ‘blood money’ from the 57-year-old’s bogus ticket scam.
Putman, who was jailed for seven years in 1993 for raping a 17-year-old pregnant girl, had been threatened with an additional six years in prison by the authorities for his refusal to cooperate and only paying back less than £100,000.
An enforcement receiver order at St Albans Crown Court allowed prosecutors to ‘take possession of assets, sell them and pay money to the courts’.
The four-bedroom detached property is severely fire damaged and is missing part of its roof
At the rear of the house is a patio and a further outbuilding used for storage. The west of the site is open land
Before the first it is believed to have had a Hall, Kitchen, Lounge, Bathroom and Dining Room on the ground floor and a landing and four bedrooms on the first floor
Safe access to the upper floors is not possible and the home is littered in rubble
The neglected and fire-damaged house was left in ruins after the property was abandoned for over a decade
This meant they could take control of his house and land in Kings Langley, where he had planned to build a hotel.
The sex offender undertook the scam in 2009 alongside Giles Knibbs, a Camelot employee who helped run the National Lottery.
Putman received millions after Knibbs, who worked in the company’s fraud detection unit, made a fake ticket.
He then submitted this and it was accepted despite missing the bottom half and having no barcode.
The former bricklayer told Camelot he had found the ticket under the seat of his van and claimed it days before the six-month time limit.
After this, Putman was jailed for three months in 2012 after he was found fraudulently claiming £13,000 in benefits despite the lottery win.
He and his partner allegedly lived a jet-set lifestyle, flying worldwide and buying multiple properties.
But his relationship with Knibbs deteriorated after his co-conspirator began to feel he had not received his fair share of the £2.5million prize.
Putman, pictured, allegedly lived a jet set lifestyle after claiming the money, flying all over the world and buying multiple properties
The Camelot worker confessed what he had done to loved ones before killing himself in 2015.
After his suicide, police found notes detailing the fraud, and an investigation was opened, but it was closed when Camelot could not locate the alleged forgery.
It was then opened again in 2017 when a Camelot employee finally located the ticket, and he was charged in 2019.
He was found guilty by a jury and sentenced to nine years in prison.
Passing sentence at the time, Judge Grey said the ‘sophisticated, carefully planned, and diligently operated fraud’ struck at the heart of the integrity of the National Lottery.
Source: | This article originally belongs to Dailymail.co.uk
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