A Lotto winner who conspired with a Camelot employee to claim a £2.5millon jackpot has been jailed for nine years.
Builder Edward Putman, 54, was accused of fraud by false representation after allegedly claiming an outstanding jackpot of £2.5 million with a fake ticket in 2009.
Convicted rapist Putman, from Kings Langley, Hertfordshire, conspired with friend Giles Knibbs - who worked in the securities department at Camelot between 2004 and 2010.
Today, authorities have released an image of the ticket he used to con Camelot out of the jackpot in a near-perfect forgery that even fooled the top Lotto operator.
The genuine winning ticket, which was bought in Worcester, has never been discovered.
Putnam was convicted at St Albans Crown Court today of cashing in a fake Lottery ticket to claim the £2.5m jackpot after a two-week trial.
Passing sentence, judge Philip Grey said the "sophisticated, carefully planned, and diligently operated fraud" struck at the heart of the integrity of the National Lottery.
He said: "You would have got away with this but quite plainly you were greedy.
"This crime struck at the integrity of the National Lottery. You have also undermined the public's trust in the lottery itself."
The judge said the fact Camelot had been "hoodwinked in this way will of course be damaging to its reputation".
The court was also told that Putman had previous convictions for rape and benefit fraud.
Putman was paid the jackpot by Camelot despite the bottom part of the mangled slip missing the barcode, the trial heard.
He submitted a damaged fake ticket to take the top prize in September 2009 that matched a real National Lottery ticket bought in Worcester in March earlier that year.
The trial was told Mr Knibbs did not feel he had received his fair share of the jackpot, which was paid out to Putman, and they had a bitter argument.
Mr Knibbs killed himself later that year, the court was told, having been arrested for burglary, blackmail and criminal damage.
Putman had hatched the plot with Mr 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
But the fraud unravelled after Mr Knibbs became increasingly erratic and he began revealing details of the con ot other people.
Mr Knibbs confronted Putman in a heated argument in June 2015, breaking Putman's wing mirrors and stealing his phone.
The lottery worker was subsequently arrested for burglary, blackmail and criminal damage after Putman complained to police.
He later killed himself after fearing he would go down for "10 to 15 years for blackmail", the trial heard.
Evidence suggested Mr Knibbs was initially paid £280,000 by Putman for his part in the ruse, followed by much smaller increments totalling £50,000
The scam began after Mr Knibbs saw documents being printed containing details of big wins which had not yet been claimed while working late one night.
Prosecutor James Keeley told the trial there was "some trial and error" in producing a successful forged ticket, with several different specimens made, each with one of the 100 different possible unique codes on the bottom.
Mr Knibbs had claimed Putman went to 29 different shops as the clock ticked down to claim the cash, providing a different ticket at each, before the right number was found.
Mr Keeley said Putman eventually submitted the correct code at a shop in High Wycombe, on August 28, 2009.
Despite his multi-million pound windfall, three years later in 2012 Putman was sentenced to nine months for benefit fraud after going on to claim £13,000 in housing and income support.
His previous convictions also include the rape of a teenager in the early 1990s, for which he was sentenced to seven years.
In 2016, the Gambling Commission fined Camelot £3 million for breaching its operating licence regarding controlling databases, investigating prize claims, and paying out prizes.
Jurors at St Albans Crown Court found Putman guilty of fraud by false representation this afternoon.
Putman, wearing a jacket and blue jeans, did not appear to make any reaction to the verdict.
Following the verdict, district Crown prosecutor Tapashi Nadarajah for the CPS said the prosecution investigation used accounts from Mr Knibbs' friends, along with evidence from his phone and financial transactions to build the case against Putman.
That was backed by evidence from a document expert who found "significant diferences" between the printing of genuine tickets and Putman's fake.
Mr Nadarajah said: “Edward Putman deceived the National Lottery operators with his ‘winning’ ticket, making him a millionaire; but his lies unravelled with the tragic death of his co-conspirator who he wasn’t prepared to share the money with.”