20/08/2012

Shop Worker Jailed For Fraudulent £1m Lottery Claim

A worker at a Manchester shop has been jailed for fraudulently trying to claim a £1m lottery win of an elderly woman.

30-year-old Farrakh Nizzar told 77-year-old Maureen Holt that she hadn’t won anything when he scanned her ticket.

He later tried to claim the EuroMillions winnings of £1m himself.

Pleading guilty Nizzar was jailed for 30 months at Manchester Minshull Street Court.

Mrs Holt, 78, and her husband Fred, 80, who knew Nizzar by his nickname Lucky, told him to bin the worthless ticket.

After they left the shop, Nizzar called the lottery hotline and tried to claim the jackpot for himself, saying he had bought the ticket at the Best One store in Watersheddings Street, Oldham, where he worked.

The scam was unravelled when checks were made by lottery operator Camelot which showed the winning ticket was not bought at the store.

It was bought at Tesco Extra in Oldham where Mrs Holt had used her Clubcard.

Passing sentence, Recorder Philip Cattan told Nizzar: "This goes to the heart of public confidence in the National Lottery.

"The courts must demonstrate to you and to others that this type of fraud will be met by significant custody."

(H)


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