A MULTI-million-pound lottery-winning fraudster, who claimed to have bought his ticket in Worcestershire, could now lose his home after losing a court battle.
Edward Putman, 57, was sentenced to nine years in 2019 for scamming Camelot out of the £2.5 million jackpot with a forged ticket.
The actual winning ticket, which was never claimed, was bought at a Co-op store in Worcester on March 11, 2009. It had the winning numbers were 6, 9, 20, 21, 31 and 34.
Putman hatched the plot with friend Giles Knibbs - who then worked in the securities department at the lottery operator - with the pair submitting a deliberately damaged forgery just before the 180-day limit to stake claims expired.
After his Lotto scam, Putman, jailed for nine years for raping a teenager in the 1990s, went on a spending spree.
But the fraud unravelled after Mr Knibbs confessed to friends he had "conned" the lottery, before taking his own life after an angry row about how the winnings were divided.
The Daily Mirror has now revealed the convicted rapist is at risk of losing his £700,000 home in Kings Langley, Hertfordshire, as forensic accountants look to flog his possessions and settle his debts.
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They could also look at any hidden assets including a rumoured fleet of luxury cars and properties in Malta and Florida.
Putman has to pay back £940,000 of the jackpot under the Proceeds of Crime Act after choosing to pay back less than £100,000.
Putman avoided publicity following the jackpot win but was unmasked in 2012 after he fraudulently claimed £13,000 in housing and income support when he was jailed for nine months.
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