£4M Jackpot Winners Jailed for Fraud
Two men have been jailed for fraud after claiming a £4 million win from a scratch card bought with a stolen debit card. Mark Goodram and Jon Watson thought that they had hit the jackpot in 2019, when they bought a £10 scratch card with a card was not theirs. However, suspicions were aroused when they tried to claim the win but did not have access to the card’s bank account.
After discovering that their scratch card had won £4 million, the two men partied for four days. ©Cottonbro/Pexels
Stolen Debit Card
Mark Goodram and Jon Watson have been jailed for 18 months, after admitting to fraud. The men, aged 38 and 34, were sentenced at Bolton Crown Court for the crime committed in 2019. The court heard how Goodram and Watson, both from Bolton, came to win the prize and how their deceit was finally unraveled.
On April 22nd, Goodram and Watson traveled together from Bolton to London to beg, as they said there was more money to be made in the capital. It was there that the pair acquired the debit card details of a man they did not know. Prosecutor Denise Fitzpatrick told the court that Goodram wrote the card number and expiry date on his hand.
He then used these details to purchase £90 of shopping at Londis on Clapham High Street. He went on to spend £71 at a Waitrose on Clapham Common. Amongst the good purchased were five scratch cards. One of those scratch cards won Goodram a £10 prize, which he was able to claim at the Londis store.
They soon discovered that another scratch card had won them a bigger prize. The pair agreed to share the £4 million jackpot, and went on a four-day bender, celebrating their newly-found fortune. The two men posted pictures of themselves on social media, enjoying margaritas and jeroboams of champagne.
After their spending spree, Watson called up the National Lottery to claim the money. Goodram told the operator that they planned to share the jackpot, and was told that the payment would be made by bank transfer. Fitzpatrick told the court that Goodram claimed not to have a bank account.
This immediately generated suspicion, as the winning scratch card had been bought with a debit card linked to a bank account. Camelot, which operates the National Lottery, refused to pay out, as it could not confirm that the ticket was theirs. This did not go down well with Goodram and Watson, who attempted to justify how the ticket had come into their hands.
Police Investigation
When the operator questioned the pair on the matter, they said that the card belonged to a man named John, who they claimed to have met in a brothel. They added that they had given John cash to buy the winning ticket for them. However, the mysterious John did not come forward and no evidence could be found to corroborate their story.
Goodram and Watson said that John could not be contacted because he had “gone up north”. The truth was that there was no John, and that the debit card actually belonged to a man named Joshua Addiman. Addiman did not know the pair, and was later returned the stolen money by his bank.
Dissatisfied with Camelot’s decision not to pay out the winnings, Goodram and Watson went to the press. They sold their story, along with pictures from their booze-filled bender, to The Sun newspaper. They threatened to sue the lottery operator, and claimed that Camelot was “culturally racist” for being prejudiced by their criminal histories.
The pair were briefly represented pro bono by Henry Hendron. Amongst other high-profile clients Hendron has represented the band Coldplay, MP Nadine Dorries and winner of The Apprentice, Stella English. Hendron himself has amassed a number of criminal convictions for drink-driving, possession and intent to supply chemsex drugs.
The £4 million sum was held over the course of Camelot’s investigation which was later passed on to the police when it emerged that the scratch card had been obtained fraudulently. Goodram, who is of no fixed abode, has 24 convictions for 48 offenses on his record. Watson, from Little Lever, has 74 convictions for 143 offenses.
Criminal Records
Prosecution barrister Denise Fitzpatrick described the case as very unusual and with little prospect of success for the offenders. Both men were out on probation when the crimes took place, and were arrested and interviewed in March 2020. According to Fitzpatrick, both men have extensive criminal records for dishonesty.
While out on bail, Goodram committed two further offences when he failed to appear in court. He was later arrested on December 6th and remanded in custody. The court was told that Goodram tried to hide behind a sofa when officers found him at the house in which he was staying.
Robin Kitching, who mitigated for Goodram, said that his client was essentially homeless and had a long-standing addiction to drugs and alcohol. Nick Ross was mitigating for Watson, and said that since the incident his client had become the subject of ridicule. He added that Watson, who is father to a one-year-old son, has had enough of crime.
Despite initially going to the tabloids to share their sense of injustice, the two men changed their stance once the fraud was uncovered. They pleaded guilty to three counts of fraud and have now been jailed for 18 months. Goodram has been given an extra month for breaching his bail, taking his sentence to 19 months.
Sentencing the pair, Recorder Sarah Johnston said she had no doubt that they will continue to offend in dishonest ways in the future. She said that while they must have thought all their Christmases had come at once, their actions had deprived the next lottery customer from winning a life-changing sum of money.
Since the incident took place more than two years ago, the type of scratch card involved has been discontinued. Camelot stopped selling £10 scratch cards after evidence found that they could worsen gambling addictions. The National Lottery now only sells scratch cards up to the value of £5.
