The convicted rapist paid £2.5million by the National Lottery after submitting a ‘deliberately damaged ticket – and he gets to KEEP the Lotto!

Edward Putman leaving court docket in June 2012 when he confronted profit fraud fees

A convicted rapist was paid a £2.5million jackpot by the Nationwide Lottery after allegedly submitting a 'intentionally broken ticket'.

Edward Putman, who raped a 17-year-old lady twice after breaking into her house, allegedly tricked Camelot into making the payout in 2009, it emerged yesterday.

The lottery operator was fined £3million over claims it paid out on a fraudulently claimed prize that robbed good causes of £2.5million.

Putman was suspected of getting submitted his broken ticket days earlier than the six-month deadline to place in a declare.

The suspected rip-off is believed to have come to mild after an alleged confederate Giles Knibbs, a Camelot worker, killed himself in October final 12 months.

Putman was arrested by Hertfordshire Police final 12 months on suspicion of committing an offence of fraud by false illustration, however later launched with out cost.

Detectives suspected that the 51-year-old former builder had assist from somebody working at Camelot.

They believed he was advised which store the ticket got here from and when it was bought he may have made changes to it in order that it seemed to be a genuinely profitable slip. However they have been unable to search out proof to help a prosecution.

Final night time a supply near the investigation claimed Putman, generally known as Eddie, and the Camelot worker got here up with the rip-off after assembly one another socially. 

'When Eddie received the cash, the plan was for them to separate it 50-50,' the supply stated.

Putman covers his head with a hood as he leaves St Albans Magistrates Courtroom in July 2012. He was jailed for twice raping a woman after he broke into her house in 1991

'Eddie gave him among the cash, however not what they agreed. So the Camelot worker began to blackmail Eddie. Eddie went to the police and pressed fees for blackmail.

'The Camelot worker killed himself in October final 12 months, three days earlier than he was on account of seem in court docket for the primary time. It is rather unhappy that this act has value him his life. Quickly after the police have been advised concerning the causes behind the rip-off and arrested Eddie. However the proof had been destroyed, in order that they needed to let him go.'

Putman on vacation. He was sentenced to seven years in jail in 1991 after his sufferer stated she was punched so onerous she thought her head would collapse

A buddy of Mr Knibbs recommended that his suicide was linked to the alleged rip-off. 

He advised The Solar: 'I might count on [Giles] was aiming to get monetary profit. I believe he acquired some.

'They fell out which is why all of it got here to a head.'  

Putman was reportedly quizzed by police two weeks after Mr Knibbs took his personal life.  

It stays unclear which lottery draw Putman gained, though a £2,525,485 jackpot from March 11, 2009, went unclaimed till shortly earlier than the September 7 deadline.

The profitable ticket was reported to have been purchased within the Worcester or Malvern areas.

Yesterday the Playing Fee stated that £2.5million of the wonderful represented 'the quantity that may have been acquired by good causes had the prize declare not been paid'.

It stated that whereas it 'couldn't be sure a fraud had taken place, it was extra possible than not fraudulent prize declare had been made and paid out'.

The fee dominated that Camelot had breached the phrases of its lottery working licence over management of its databases, the best way it investigated prize claims and its processes 'across the resolution to pay a prize'. Camelot chief govt Andy Duncan apologised for the agency's failures and stated such an incident was 'not repeatable as we speak'.

The home in Kings Langley, Hertfordshire, the place the profit fraudster Putman lived in June 2012

He stated: 'Successfully, a declare was made with a intentionally broken ticket, we imagine. The prize that was paid out for that declare was £2.5million. 

'That particular person submitted a declare, it went by way of the conventional prize payout course of and on the time, based mostly on the proof accessible, from what we will see after the occasion albeit a very long time in the past, that gave the impression to be an affordable resolution to have made based mostly on the proof at the moment. 

'It was solely when subsequent proof got here to mild in autumn of 2015 that it solid doubt on the unique resolution. 

'So it couldn't have been recognized on the time.'

The boss of Camelot defined that the declare went by way of the conventional prize payout course of and on the time, based mostly on proof, it was an affordable resolution. The following proof didn't come to mild till Autumn 2015. Pictured: Putman leaves court docket in 2012

Mr Duncan declined to say whether or not the alleged fraud was an inside job, or whether or not the agency nonetheless possessed the allegedly dodgy ticket. Hertfordshire Police confirmed man had been arrested on suspicion of fraud by false illustration however then launched with out cost.

A Division for Tradition, Media and Sport spokesman stated: 'It's proper that the Playing Fee has acted on this case and guaranteed us that Camelot has put controls in place to mitigate towards any comparable licence breach sooner or later.'

Putman didn't reply to requests for remark.

SHEER BRUTALITY OF THIS BRAZEN PSYCHOPATH 

When Edward Putman's lottery win was made public, the lady he raped when she was 17 described him as a 'brazen psychopath'.

In the course of the assault, he punched his sufferer so onerous she thought her head would 'collapse'.

The lady, who can't be named for authorized causes, was residing in Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire, within the early 1990s when she was attacked.

Putman, now 51, broke into her house and sat subsequent to her in her front room the place he flicked cigarette ash at her, pulled her hair and was abusive in the direction of her earlier than pushing her right into a room.

'He beat the **** out of me,' she advised the Every day Mail in a earlier interview. 'He punched my head so onerous I believed it might collapse. Then he raped me. Afterwards he sat on the mattress and stated, "Oh my God. I do know what I've simply carried out". I patronised him to get him to go away and stated, "You're simply drunk. Go house". He went down the steps however then got here up and did it once more.'

Putman was convicted of rape, indecent assault and perverting the course of justice in January 1993 at Northampton Crown Courtroom and served 4 years of his sentence.

Earlier than his conviction he additionally tried to intimidate a witness who had seen him in the home into withdrawing their testimony.

He has additionally been convicted of wounding with intent in a case from the mid-1980s.

Putman, who lives in a £700,000 indifferent home in Kings Langley in Hertfordshire, declined publicity when he was awarded the lottery jackpot.

However particulars of his win emerged when he was taken to court docket for claiming £13,000 advantages after profitable his jackpot. He was jailed for 9 months in 2012 after the court docket heard how the multi-millionaire wrote to the Division for Work and Pensions and his council to say he was borrowing cash and promoting possessions to make ends meet.

The housing and council tax profit and earnings help he acquired amounted to solely 4 weeks' curiosity on his jackpot.

The fraud was revealed after he tried to purchase his council home in money and suspicious officers started probing his funds.

Jailing him, Decide Andrew Vivid stated: 'This was deliberate and premeditated and, I'm glad, was motivated by sheer greed. Although you had gained the lottery you carried on claiming advantages to which you weren't entitled. Your greed was on a scale which, frankly, defies perception.'

By comparability, his rape sufferer acquired a mere £four,000 from the Prison Accidents Compensation Authority for her struggling.

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