A conman in the UK has been found guilty of cashing in a fake lottery ticket to claim a €2.8m (£2.5m) jackpot.
Edward Putman, 54, conspired with another man to claim the prize in 2009. He has been jailed for nine years.
The genuine winning ticket has never been found.
Putman and Giles Knibbs, who was working in the Camelot securities department at the time, submitted a deliberately damaged forgery shortly before the 180-day limit to make claims expired.
Camelot, which runs the National Lottery in the UK, paid the money despite the barcode being missing from the bottom of the damaged slip.
Their plan unravelled after their friendship fell apart and Knibbs began telling people he had "conned" the lottery and had not received his claimed £1m share.
Evidence suggested that Putman initially paid Knibbs £280,000 for his part in the plan, plus some smaller amounts adding up to £50,000.
During an argument in 2015, Knibbs broke Putman's car wing mirrors and stole his phone.
Edward Putman arrivies at St Albans Crown Court in Hertfordshire today. Photo: Steve Parsons/PA Wire/PA ImagesPutman complained to police, and Knibbs was arrested on suspicion of burglary, blackmail and criminal damage.
Knibbs subsequently took his own life after fearing he would go down for "10 to 15 years for blackmail", the trial at St Albans Crown Court in Hertfordshire heard today.
The plot began when Knibbs saw documents at work containing details of big wins that had not been claimed.
Producing a successful forged document was a process of "some trial and error", prosecutor James Keeley said.
Several different specimens were made, each with one of the 100 possible codes on the bottom.
Knibbs claimed Putman went to 29 different shops, presenting a different ticket at each, until the correct number was found.
Putman eventually submitted the correct code at a shop in High Wycombe, in August 2009, Mr Keeley said.
Putman, who is also a convicted benefits cheat, was found guilty of fraud by false representation.
The builder did not react as the verdict was read out at St Albans Crown Court today.
He was convicted of the rape of a teenager in the early 1990s and sentenced to seven years in jail.
In 2012, he was sentenced to nine months for benefit fraud after claiming £13,000 in housing and income support.
A Camelot spokesman said the company is pleased the case has "now come to a conclusion".
Additional reporting by IRN
