TWO lotto scratchcard winners won £4million didn’t see a penny of it after a “slip up” when trying to claim their prize.
Jon-Ross Watson and Mark Goodram went on a four-day bender after hitting the jackpot while on a trip to London in 2019.
9
9
9
CCTV film caught of the win shows Watson dancing and jumping around in the Clapham Waitrose while Goodram bangs his fists on the counter.
The pair then went on a bender with pictures posted on social media showing them with champagne and downing cocktails over several days.
But their joy was short-lived as the ‘Blotto Louts’ went from heroes to zeros.
Watson and Goodram had bought the scratchie with a stolen card.
Read more on money
The conspiracy unravelled when Goodram tried to claim the money from Camelot and he accidentally let slip that he didn’t have a bank account.
Bosses at the company became suspicious, and investigator Stephen Long began a probe.
The lottery operator originally claimed they “couldn’t find” the payment, which was organised by a lawyer for the duo soon after their jaw-dropping windfall.
Henry Hendron, barrister for Mr Watson and Mr Goodram, told The Sun in 2020: “It would be inappropriate for me to comment on an ongoing criminal case, other than to say that Camelot have clearly been gunning for my clients from the outset.
Most read in Money
“Its apparent that Camelot are determined not to pay out to my clients on their legitimate and winning £4m ticket, it was Camelot, not the cardholder, who reported my clients to the police;
“My clients robustly maintain that at the time they purchased the winning ticket they had the cardholders authorisation to use the card details for the purchase and are bemused as to why the cardholder is now apparently saying otherwise.
Man takes ex partner to court after she decides to keep lotto win to herself
“My clients intend to call the cardholder to give evidence in the criminal trial, at which my clients are looking forward to clearing their name.”
During the investigation, Goodram told Long the card he’d used to buy the ticket belonged to a friend called John who “owed him money”.
But he was unable to reveal the mystery ‘John’s’ surname or address.
It was then discovered that the stolen card actually belonged to a man named Joshua Addyman.
9
9
9
9
The pair then launched a media blitz to fight back against the claims.
Watson told The Sun at the time: “The Lottery catchline is ‘It Could Be You’. Well, it should be us.
“Camelot bosses are messing us around, probably because they know we’ve had a lively past and been in prison. Well, that’s too bad.
“They need to pay us what we are owed, or else.
“I should be living it up in Las Vegas.”
He even claimed his life had been “ruined” by the company.
“In a way, it has ruined my life,” he told The Bolton News.
“People have been calling me a scumbag and laughing at me.
“I am just depressed all the time.
“I can’t go to Bolton anymore, everywhere I go people laugh at me.”
Goodram’s ex-girlfriend Shelly Birtles, who dated him for two years, told The Sun the money should be used to pay back his petty crime victims.
The mum said: “When I realised Camelot weren’t giving him the money I laughed my head off. That’s karma for you.
“If the scratchcard was bought using a stolen debit card, the winnings should go to the card owner.
“And if he is granted the money, he should give it back to everyone he has stolen from.”
Shelly and Goodram met as teenagers, eventually starting to date in 2013.
The pair then faced court in 2021 after a police investigation.
In the trial they claimed they won the money “fair and square”, but both changed their plea at the last minute to guilty.
Woman accused of pocketing lotto jackpot after boyfriend split
A LOTTERY winner has hit back after being accused of pocketing a £1million jackpot after splitting from her boyfriend.
Charlotte Cox, 37, has slammed her ex-partner, Michael Cartlidge’s “rubbish” claims that he is entitled to half the massive win.
The couple, from Spalding, Lincs, have been embroiled in a nasty war over who deserves the life-changing £1million pay out.
Confusion arose after Camelot agreed the pair should split the money, but new Lottery owners Allwyn made a U-turn weeks later and ruled Charlotte was the sole winner.
The mum-of-one had been dating Michael for three months when they scooped the lucky ticket on a spontaneous Friday evening.
But weeks after their win, Michael received a message “out of the blue” from Charlotte’s friend asking him to move out.
The pair initially claimed they were given the credit card details by a man they had helped earlier in a brothel.
Bolton Crown Court heard they had travelled to Clapham, from their hometown in Bolton, Lancs, to “beg” as they believed they could make more money.
While there they knowingly used details from a debit card that didn’t belong to them to buy scratchcards.
The pair first won £10 on a scratchcard, which they were given in cash, and then scooped £4million on a second.
They “immediately” called Camelot the same day on April 22, 2019, to claim their windfall before partying for four-days to celebrate.
From there, the pair’s loose lips sunk them with it ultimately becoming known that neither had a bank account.
Both of the crooked ‘winners’ were jailed for 18 months each after admitting three counts of fraud by false representation.
The penniless pair, who had a string of criminal convictions, were already in jail for unrelated offences.
Detective Constable Michelle Wilkinson, of Greater Manchester Police’s Complex Fraud Team, said at the time that it was quite an extraordinary case with the tiny odds of the win.
“Unfortunately for them, they had knowingly bought this ticket through fraudulent means.
READ MORE SUN STORIES
“While the massive winnings were never put in the wrong hands and no one came to any harm, there is no doubt in my mind that these men would have gladly accepted this money without any remorse for their illicit ways of obtaining it.
“The vigilance of staff at Camelot has to be commended, and the subsequent investigation by our team at the Complex Fraud Team has ensured that these two men are rightly behind bars and can learn to accept how their selfish and unscrupulous actions were far from acceptable.”
9
9
