Lottery £79k fraud sentencing

A shop assistant has received a 12 month suspended jail sentence after he tried to trick a customer out of his lottery winnings. Maidstone Crown Court heard that a syndicate member was left hunting through bags of rubbish for his ticket.

The shopkeeper told him he'd won just ten pounds, so he could pocket the money himself. David Johns reports, speaking to syndicate leader Callum Crosier.

A man whose lottery syndicate was almost conned out of a seventy-nine thousand pound payout has been telling his story. When Callum Crosier went to a shop to get the group's lottery numbers checked he was told they had only won £10, and the ticket was apparently discarded by a shop assistant.

However Mr Crosier later checked the numbers for himself, and realised his syndicate had matched five lottery balls and the bonus ball - meaning a prize of thousands of pounds. He returned to the store and insisted the shopkeepers find the ticket. The winning ticket was found after a long search.

Lottery operator Camelot launched an inquiry and found that all four of the syndicate's tickets had been scanned, including the one with £79,887 prize. Shop assistant Imran Pervais, 26, of Milton Rd, Gravesend was arrested by Kent Police, and later found guilty of fraud by false representation.

Today at Maidstone Crown Court, Pervais was sentenced to 12 months in jail, suspended for two years. The judge said the offence "derived from an impulsive decision" but that Pervais ultimately failed to deprive the syndicate of their winnings.

A shop assistant from Kent who tried to con a lottery syndicate out of its £79,000 winning ticket has been sentenced to 12 months behind bars, suspended for two years.

Imran Pervais, 26, of Milton Road in Gravesend paid out just £10 to the Chatham-based syndicate. He was found guilty of fraud by false representation by a jury in March. David Johns reports.

A Chatham-based syndicate which nearly lost out on a £79,000 lottery win have celebrated receiving their cheque. The group were misled into believing they had only won £10 after they handed the ticket in for checking at Moores Convenience Store in Mackenzie Way in Gravesend.

Today shop assistant Imran Pervais, 26, of Milton Road in Gravesend was handed a 12-month prison sentenced - suspended for two years. He was convicted of fraud by false representation by a jury in March.

Pervais was also given a 200 hour community service order and a curfew for what the judge at Maidstone Crown Court called an 'opportunistic' and 'mean-spirited' offence.

A spokesman from Camelot said: "Camelot takes matters of propriety very seriously. Our aim as operator of The National Lottery is to raise as much money as possible for National Lottery Good Causes through selling lottery tickets in a socially-responsible way.

"This involves running The National Lottery with the utmost integrity.

"In order to do this, we adhere to the highest standards in player protection. Our operations and processes are subject to the scrutiny of our own internal auditors, independent external auditors, and representatives from our regulator, the National Lottery Commission."

A shop assistant from Kent has been jailed for 12 months, suspended for two years - after trying to con a lottery syndicate out of its £79,000 winning ticket.

Imran Pervais, 26, of Milton Road in Gravesend paid out just £10 to the Chatham-based syndicate even though they had matched five balls plus a bonus number.

In March Pervais was convicted of fraud by false representation. In addition to the suspended sentence, he was given a curfew and a 200 hours community service sentence.