Manchester Man Jailed For £1m Lottery Scam

20 August 2012, 14:04 | Updated: 30 March 2016, 13:50

A shop worker from Manchester has been jailed for 30 months for trying to claim a winning £1 million lottery ticket belonging to a pensioner couple.

Farrakh Nizzar, 30, of Woodlands Road, Crumpsall, told Maureen Holt her EuroMillions ticket was a loser - and asked her if she wanted the ticket back. 

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

In fact when Nizzar had scanned the ticket at his cousin's Best One shop in Oldham, Greater Manchester, where he worked, the terminal told him the holder should contact Camelot. 

Nizzar, an illegal over-stayer in the UK who is due to be deported to Pakistan, kept the ticket and later called the lottery company himself in an attempt to keep the prize.

But the firm became suspicious when he was unable to answer questions about the winning ticket. 

Camelot checked CCTV and traced the rightful owners of the ticket using Mr Holt's Tesco Clubcard to unite the couple with their £1 million prize. 

Nizzar pleaded guilty last month to one charge of fraud by false representation committed on May 31 this year. 

He bowed his head and made no reaction as he was jailed at Minshull Street Crown Court in Manchester. 

Duncan Wilcock, prosecuting, told the court that on June 21 this year, Mrs Holt and her husband, a retired Royal Navy engineer, completed their weekly shop at Tesco Extra in Oldham, bought lottery tickets and flew to Spain for a week to celebrate Mr Holt's 80th birthday.