A LOTTO fraudster who claimed £2.5 million using a fake ticket was freed from jail despite never paying the cash back.
Edward Putman was released under crisis plans designed to free up prison spaces.
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The 54-year-old was sentenced to nine years in October 2019 for stealing £2.5 million from the National Lottery with the help of Camelot insider Giles Knibbs.
The conman risked extra jail time after he paid back just £94,000 from the scam, with financial investigators seizing his assets and putting his home up for auction in a bid to recover the rest.
The mansion eventually sold for £1.2 million.
Putman was ordered to pay the more than £900,000 difference but refused.
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Scheme to free offenders
Despite Putman’s failure to comply with the Proceeds of Crime order, he was freed under the Government’s controversial End of Custody Supervised Licence scheme.
ECSL was launched in October last year and allowed lags to be released up to 18 days before the end of their sentence.
However, last month it was announced criminals could be freed two months early.
A source told The Mirror: “Putman showed contempt for the repayment of the cash he stole but was still released early. It’s appalling.”
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The fraudster was previously convicted of rape and jailed for seven years for an attack on a 17-year-old girl.
He is now subject to tight conditions limiting where he can travel and who he can contact after being released.
It comes as an investigation into an arson attack in October 2022 on Edward Putman’s mansion has been shelved after detectives said “all lines of enquiry were exhausted”.
Accomplice’s death
The move to release Putman after less than half of his sentence has been served has left pals of Giles Knibbs – who took his own life – furious.
One family friend told The Mirror: “Giles is gone and Putman is free – how is that fair?
“Giles was exploited and took his own life.
“Now Putman has been freed and has the rest of his life ahead of him.”
During his court case, jurors heard Putman had conspired with Lottery insider Knibbs, who worked in Camelot’s security department, to present a fake 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 6, 9, 20, 21, 31 and 34.
Putman showed contempt for the repayment of the cash he stole but was still released early… It’s appalling
Source
On August 28 that year, just before the 180-day claim deadline, Putman called Camelot to say he’d found the winning ticket under the seat of his van.
It was missing its bottom part, which contained unique numbers.
However, Camelot accepted the forgery as genuine – even though it was missing a barcode.
The fraud began to unravel on October 5, 2015, when Mr Knibbs, 38, committed suicide at Ivinghoe Beacon in Bucks.
He had confessed to friends that he and Putman had “conned” the Lottery.
The two men had rowed about how the winnings were divided.
Giles is gone and Putman is free – how is that fair?
Giles Knibbs’ Pal
In June 2015, Putman had gone to the police alleging Knibbs had threatened to reveal his previous convictions for rape and benefits fraud in 2012.
The friend of Knibbs’ family added: “They’ve never got to the bottom of what he did with the money. It’s horrific.”
The Crown Prosecution Service has confirmed additional time was not added to Putman’s sentence for failing to settle the confiscation order.
What is the Early Release scheme?
A Ministry of Justice spokesman said: “We are creating an additional 20,000 prison places – the biggest prison expansion programme since the Victorian era – so we can lock up dangerous offenders for longer.
“Only lower-level offenders who are a matter of days before their automatic release date are being considered for the End of Custody Supervised Licence Scheme and anyone convicted of a sexual, terrorist or serious violent offence is excluded.
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“Governors can block the release of any prisoner and those who are released face strict monitoring and can be sent back to prison if they break the rules.”
The Sun has approached the MoJ for further comment.
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