Anne Jeevarajah checked the ticket of Gwyn Badham-Davies at her family store in Hingham Norfolk on June 25 last year at which point she saw that the ticket was a winner. Only rather than congratulating the elderly man on his new-found fortune, she told Mr Badham-Davies that his ticket was worthless, and her husband then called up lottery organisers Camelot to try and claim the cash for himself.
Camelot said that alarms was raised when it took such a long time for the prize money to be collected, and their suspicions were only heightened when they discovered that Mr Jeevaragh was a shopkeeper.
Mr Badham-Davies, who was a regular lottery player, only found out about his financial winnings when Mr Jeevaragh told him after an investigation had been launched.
Mr Jeevaragh admitted fraud and his husband admitted theft and fraud. They have been sentenced to 14 months each at Norwich Crown Court.
