Enemies of the law, favorites of fortune: criminals who hit the jackpot in the British lottery

Winning the lottery is a unique chance, and it happens that not quite honest people are lucky in this. In the UK, cases where the owners of the lucky ticket were law enforcement violators, occurred more than once. The government even considered a bill that would allow the confiscation of winnings from criminals. But it never took effect. Criminals continue to play the lottery while sitting behind bars.

Lottery winners do not always deserve to win, but fate still gives them a chance. Among the lucky ones, there are those who broke the law even after hitting the jackpot. The stories they got involved in are puzzling, because with such money, you could live your life in a completely different way.

Iorworth Hoare bought a lucky ticket on the day he was released from prison. He hit the jackpot of 7.2 million pounds (about 750 million rubles) in 2004, after serving a sentence for attempted rape.

In the 1970s and 1980s, the criminal was repeatedly involved in sexual acts. For a long time, the Briton could not enjoy his luck. He was forced to leave a posh house in Newcastle, constantly receiving threats from anonymous people who painted his gates with angry graffiti and sent bullets in parcels.

In 2009, another rapist became rich, winning 4.5 million pounds (about 470 million rubles) in the National Lottery. His name remained a secret, but it is known for sure that the former criminal attacked a teenage girl, and a few years earlier stabbed a neighbor.

Edward Putman (Edward Putman) received 2.5 million pounds (about 260 million rubles), without even buying a ticket. In 2009, he and an accomplice, Giles Knibbs, who worked for the Camelot lottery system, forged a winning ticket.

The scam was only discovered after Nibbs ' suicide six years later. Putman refused to pay a friend 1 million pounds (about 105 million rubles) for a dubious deal. He even reported it to the police, accusing the lottery employee of blackmail. Nibbs was so scared of prison that he told his friends about it, and then committed suicide.

Putman was jailed in 2019. He was sentenced to nine years in prison for grandiose deception. As it turned out, the fraudster not only pulled off a scam with money, but also committed a more serious crime back in 1991. Then he raped a 17-year-old girl. The victim claimed that the acts of violence occurred more than 20 times. She demanded moral compensation and received 50,000 pounds (about 5.3 million rubles), which she then donated to charity.

Michael Carroll (Michael Carroll) won 9.7 million pounds (about 1 billion rubles) in 2002, when he was 19 years old. At that time, the guy had already been prosecuted for dozens of cases of car theft, damage and theft. The man did not stop breaking the law after winning.

Michael's wife left him a month after the wedding, in 2003. She did not want to tolerate his passion for crazy parties and orgies with prostitutes. The ex-wife sued Michael for 1.4 million pounds (about 146 million rubles).

Carroll really went crazy in his mansion in Norfolk, spending up to 2,000 pounds (about 210,000 rubles) on cocaine daily and throwing depraved parties. The lottery winner boasted that he spent the night with eight women at once.

Michael is now 38 years old. He squandered all the money and works as a coal miner, receiving 10 pounds (about 1,100 rubles) per hour.

Former employee of a fast food cafe Leah Sumray (Leah Sumray) won a million pounds (about 105 million rubles) in 2007. Just a year later, she was behind bars, not appearing at the court hearing as a witness. Instead of going to court, she went on vacation to the island of Fuerteventura.

At the time of winning, the girl was 21 years old. She was held in a cell for 14 days. Now Leah understands how frivolous she was, but hopes that her case will serve as an example for others.

Jane Restorick (Jane Restorick) became the youngest winner of the British lottery, winning a million pounds (about 105 million rubles) in 2013. Then she was 17 years old. Surprisingly, it was the first lottery ticket that the girl bought in her life.

Four years later, the British woman was arrested by police for driving under the influence of alcohol. The girl exceeded the speed limit near mac Drive in Edinburgh. Jane paid a fine of 900 pounds (about 94,000 rubles) and received a penalty-a driving ban for 18 months. In addition, it turned out that the girl had already been fined 110 pounds (about 12,000 rubles) for attacking a security guard in a nightclub in 2015.

Now the beauty is 25 years old. She created a page on the adult website OnlyFans in 2019 and managed to earn 25,000 pounds (about 2.6 million rubles) from the sale of nude photos.

Nina Hughes was homeless until she won 700,000 pounds (about 73 million rubles) in 2005. The jackpot dramatically changed her fate. The woman bought two houses and began to live on a grand scale.

After a while, the British woman became addicted to heroin. She was caught selling drugs two years after winning the prize. Since Nina had four children, she was able to avoid a prison sentence, while nine of her accomplices were behind bars. The criminal was given a three-month curfew and sentenced to two years of probation.

But the problems with the law did not end there. In 2018, the former lottery winner was again in court. This time for stealing a laurel bush outside a pub in Kent. Nina spent five days behind bars.

Meanwhile, a British woman who hit the jackpot in her youth found herself on the verge of poverty. Now she lives on an allowance that the state pays for her children.