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Rapist who scammed National Lottery out of £2.5m with forged ticket 'faces losing £700,000 home'
1 May 2023, 08:03
A convicted rapist who scammed the National Lottery out of £2.5million with a forged ticket faces losing his £700,000 home after refusing to give back the money.
Edward Putman has not yet paid back the money he owes after he was jailed for nine years for his role in the fraudulent scheme.
He was eventually caught after his co-conspirator, a National Lottery worker, took his own life.
The 57-year-old was ordered to pay back around £900,000 but is yet to do so.
Prosecutors have now been given the power to acquire his possessions, selling them to raise cash.
That includes his £700,000 home in Kings Langley, Hertfordshire, the Mirror reports.
Putman was jailed for seven years in 1993 after he raped a 17-year-old pregnant teenager.
He had previously been threatened with six more years in prison after paying back less than £100,000.
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A source told the publication: "Putman had the chance to settle up but he's too greedy - now it's out of his hands.
"The authorities are desperate to get the cash back, they won't stand by and let him squirrel away the cash.'Putman played the coward and tried to fight the application but prosecutors won."