Shocking stories of lottery fakers from ‘casanova’ conman to ‘£2.5million’ ticket fraudster
GETTING your hands on the golden ticket and scooping the lottery is the dream of many a punter up and down the country.
But while winning the lotto has produced some incredible tales over the years, some do not always play by the rules.
These include some of the lotto’s biggest fakers including a “casanova” conman and a notorious ticket fraudster.
Here are some of the people who hit the jackpot illegally – before their luck ran out.
Edward Putman, now 56, was found guilty in October 2019 of using a fake winning ticket to claim a £2.5m jackpot in 2009.
He “conned” National Lottery chiefs into paying out millions after duping them with a fake winning ticket created by one of its staff.
Putman undertook the scam in 2009 alongside Giles Knibbs, a Camelot employee who helped run the National Lottery.
It was just before the six-month deadline for claims that Mr Putman came forward with the ticket, which had been bought in the Co-op at St John’s Road, Worcester.
He submitted the fake 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.
Camelot verified that the ticket was genuine and Mr Putman, of Kings Langley, Herts, collected £2,525,485, telling the company he wanted to remain anonymous.
IT expert Mr Knibbs had created 100 tickets all with the winning numbers for an unclaimed pot.
And Putman took different tickets to 29 stores before striking it lucky.
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.
The fraud began to unravel on October 5, 2015, when Mr Knibbs, 38, committed suicide at Ivinghoe Beacon in Bucks.
He had confessed to friends that he and Putman had “conned” the Lottery.
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.
Putman was found guilty by a jury and sentenced to nine years in prison.
In 2012 Putman was sentenced to nine months for benefit fraud after going on to claim £13,000 in housing and income support, despite his fraudulent jackpot win.
He was previously jailed in 1991 for seven years for rape.
In January 2022, forensic accounts were looking to flog his possessions to settle his debts and he was ordered to pay back almost £940,000 within three months.
But a year on he had only repaid £94,000 – and his home near the M25 was taken off him.
Now the house has sold for £1.2million at auction – meaning Putman could have more than £355,000 left over after settling his debt, reports The Mirror.
The property was valued at just £700,000 but its thought the land next to the house made it appealing for developers.
However, it is unlikely that Putman will get his money, according to the CPS, as the court has the power to increase the value of the confiscation order.
‘Casanova’ Conman
Meanwhile Conman John Eric Wells left his own trail of destruction and heartbreak after spinning a web of lies to convince women he won a £8.4million jackpot.
The Doncaster decorator vanished back in 2019 after conning his lovers out of £400,000.
Wells, who used to go by the name Howard Walmsley, first hit the headlines in 2001, but has now been on the run for four years.
The unusual crook was jailed for three years after he posed as a Lottery winner to save his marriage with wife Kathy and con victims out of cash.
He targeted banks, a solicitor, an architect, a car firm and two women friends.
Wells even conned one woman out of £8,000 by making her believe he was about to move in with her.
He ordered a fleet of Jaguar cars and made plans for an extension – including a swimming pool, granny flat and garages.
By the time he was arrested he was claiming to have scooped £8.4million on the Lottery.
His case even inspired the 2004 ITV film Can’t Buy Me Love, which starred Martin Kemp and Michelle Collins.
Judge Jane Shipley, who originally jailed him at Sheffield Crown Court, told him he lived in a “fantasy world”.
The force said he is also believed to go by the names Howard Walmsley and Howard Hemmings.
One of Wells’s alleged victims, Hazel Wilkins, who lives with her daughter from Rusper, West Sussex, claims Wells stole her life savings of almost £63,000.
Hazel said: “Before I met him I had a good job, lots of money in the bank and I’d never been in debt.
“That man has ruined my life and who knows how many others.
“I don’t want to fall in love again. I won’t trust anybody. I have got to the point of hiding my purse.
“I just want him found and put where he is supposed to be – behind bars.”
He convinced her to leave her job, telling her he had a 500-seater restaurant in Guernsey that she could manage, which never materialised, she alleges.
I feel so stupid. But he was convincing, charming, funny and kind. Love is blind and I was head over heels”
Hazel Wilkins
Hazel said he took her on cruises and they stayed in penthouse suites in top hotels.
Wells claimed told her he owned dozens of hotels around the world and pretended to go on frequent “business trips”, often sending her photos from exotic-looking locations.
In reality he was working in his hometown of Doncaster, South Yorks, where he was living a double life, she claims.
He was carrying out an identical scam on another woman, who Hazel has since been in touch with.
Hazel says Wells also claimed he had cancer, and cancelled their wedding plans five times, saying that friends and family had died.
Wells vanished in 2017 and Hazel claims she’s been paying back £17,000 in loans he took out in her name, which has wiped out half her pension.
He also promised to buy her daughters a house but backed out at the last minute, leaving one of them, who had a newborn baby, desperate and homeless.
She explained: “I feel so stupid. But he was convincing, charming, funny and kind. Love is blind and I was head over heels.”