Lottery winner jailed for Nine Months for benefit fraud in the UK

Hard working families across the country would be outraged at a lottery winner who has been jailed for nine months for fraudulently claiming about £13,000 in benefits. The man had won nearly £5 million in the UK National Lottery in 2009 but continued to apply for housing benefits and income support claiming he was broke and could not afford to eat.

While splashing out on two sports cars and a new house, the man, a convicted rapist motivated by sheer greed continued to claim support despite winning Millions. The judge described Putman’s fraudulent claims as “a pack of lies from start to finish” and said his letters to the authorities were “as calculated a piece of deception as anyone could imagine”. “It was greed on a scale which, frankly, defies belief, especially in an economic climate when welfare budgets are being cut and those who are properly entitled are struggling to make ends meet.” The judge found the fraudulent claims, which spanned 20 months, so serious and set aside Sentencing Guidelines Council advice about punishment.

His benefits were suspended in 2009 but later reinstated and back-dated to January 2010 upon his request to the Department for Work and Pensions. However in October the authorities became suspicious when Putman tried to buy his council house with £84,000 in cash claiming he had no bank account. Investigations then showed that he had a bank account with money in it and that in September 2009, two large sums of cash (£2.5 and £2.4 million) were paid into his account.

The man’s lawyer said he repaid the money before pleading guilty at a magistrate’s court.

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