Lottery fraud victim tells his story

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.