Married couple make fraudulent lotto claim

A married couple have narrowly escaped a prison sentence after they were found to have made a fraudulent National Lottery claim.

It was heard that Mr Michael and Amanda Stacey had found a Daily Play lotto ticket where they claimed a cash prize of £30,000. Mr and Mrs Stacey spent half of the money before the rightful owner of the Daily Play ticket contacted the police, who then put a stop on the remainder of the National Lottery money being paid out.

The couple appeared in a court hearing, where they were found guilty of fraud and both Mr and Mrs Stacey were lucky when they received only a suspended sentence, which resulted in 11 months in prison.

The rightful winner of the Daily Play lotto ticket was Dorothy McDonagh, who is 61 years of age and is now attempting to retrieve the £15,000 already spent through private legal action. Dorothy did apply to National Lottery bosses, in hope that they may pay her the money and try to retrieve the spent money themselves, but due to National Lottery rules, they were unable to do so, stating that all lotto tickets should be kept safe to prevent these such incidents.

This fraudulent claim has come with a warning to all National Lottery players, that it is better to play with numbers you will remember and safer to buy your lotto ticket online.