A convicted rapist who scammed the National Lottery of £2.5 million by fabricating a winning ticket has yet to make a single payment.
For his role in the multi-million pound fraud in 2019, Edward Putman was sentenced to nine years in jail and had to repay more than £900,000.
The 56-year-old concocted the plot with a National Lottery staffer, but he was apprehended after his accomplice committed himself.
The criminal has been advised to start paying back the money from his ill-gotten gains while still in prison, but he has not done so.
That’s despite still owning a £700,000 house and being threatened with an additional six years in prison by the authorities.
The former bricklayer told Camelot he discovered the ticket under his van’s seat and claimed it days before the six-month deadline.
Putman was sentenced to three months in prison in 2012 after being discovered falsely claiming £13,000 in benefits despite winning the jackpot.
He and his partner, Lita Stephens, were said to enjoy a high-flying lifestyle, flying all over the world and purchasing various residences.
His relationship with Knibbs, however, soured once his co-conspirator began to believe he had not been fairly compensated for the £2.5 million award.
Before killing himself in 2015, the Camelot employee confessed what he had done to loved ones.
Police discovered notes revealing the fraud after he committed himself, and an inquiry was launched, but it was ended when Camelot was unable to uncover the claimed forgeries.
It was later reopened in 2017 when a Camelot employee finally located the ticket, and he was charged in 2019.
A jury found him guilty and sentenced him to nine years in jail.
Judge Grey noted at the time that the’sophisticated, well planned, and painstakingly conducted fraud’ struck at the heart of the National Lottery’s credibility.
He said: ‘You would have got away with this but quite plainly you were greedy.
‘Whatever the exact monetary split you and Mr Knibbs had agreed, you did not pay him what split he felt he was owed. The two of you fell out spectacularly.
‘This crime struck at the integrity of the National Lottery. You have also undermined the public’s trust in the Lottery itself.’
Putman was informed at a court in January that if he does not hand over his assets, valued at £939,782.44, within three months, another six years might be added to his sentence.
He may potentially lose his home and land in Kings Langley, Hertfordshire, where he intended to build a hotel.
The house, which is adjacent to the M25, is currently in a run-down, unkempt state with curtains drawn, and the land resembles a vehicle graveyard with at least twenty cars and trucks parked alongside caravans and mobile homes.
‘Mr Putman does not accept or agree the benefit figure or realisable assets, but will not be opposing these proceedings,’ his barrister Lawrence Selby said.