A MAN who paid for a lottery ticket that won £4million got none of the cash despite doing absolutely nothing wrong.
Joshua Addyman, 29, bought a winning scratchcard in 2019 at a London Londis - but had no idea he had done so.
His card had been stolen and used by the 'Blotto Louts' - crooks Jon-Ross Watson and Mark Goodram from Bolton.
The Sun told at the time how they beat odds of 4,019,579/1 to win one of three maximum £4million Red scratchcard jackpots.
The pair went on a five-day bender after winning the cash downing champagne, cocktails, lager, vodka, Jack Daniels, cider and wine.
Josh exclusively told The Sun in April he had "absolutely no idea" he was involved with the story and had never met the pair.
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Josh said that he was contacted by police at the time, but they never revealed any details about what his debit card had bought.
He said: "No one ever told me it was because someone won £4million.
"I've had my card stolen before, I was like 'why is this such a big deal?' no one ever explained it to me."
"If it was about people winning £4million on my card, I would have been interested to see what happens to these people."
Josh said the card was stolen when he was on a night out in Clapham.
Goodram had seen Josh's debit card details and wrote the numbers down on his hand.
The thieving pair used the numbers to buy £180 worth of items in a card machine at a Clapham Londis.
But Josh said he only two £95 transactions come up on his account and had no idea what exactly the money was spent on.
He cancelled his card straight away after seeing the transactions and realising his card details had been stolen.
The bank gave Josh his £180 back immediately and he thought that would be the end of it.
But the Lotto blouts struck big, with their conspiracy to get away with the fraud playing out in the media.
Josh said: "I definitely would have been more cooperative if they told me what was happening.
"All they sounded like was that my card got stolen and they were going way over the top with it."
Josh said Greater Manchester Police asked him to come to the city and attend court for his stolen debit card, but never told him why.
"They kept calling me, they even sent police to my house... but I was like 'I'm not going to Manchester to say I don't know what's going on, I don't know anything'.
What are your rights in this situation
Winning a lotto prize from a stolen card will breach the terms and conditions set out by the lottery operator.
Gambling lawyer David Grossbard said : "If this was fraud and the card details were stolen I can’t see that the account holder would have any right to any winnings from a scratchcard win.
"This would most likely be in breach of the scratchcard operator’s terms and conditions and also I believe that they would be required to report fraud and not payout in this situation."
"At the end of 2020, they're asking me to go to court and even at this point I still had no idea.
"I even asked them 'Hi, what is this for?' And they just ignored it."
"This was right at the peak of Covid, I didn't want to go to a court room full of people just for my card getting stolen."
Josh has never seen any of the winnings and experts spoken to by The Sun said he had no rights to it.
A GMP spokesperson previously said: "We conducted a full investigation into a case of fraud by false misrepresentation which resulted in two men receiving custodial sentences.
"We provided the victim with appropriate updates and information that protected the integrity of the investigation, and helped ensure the offenders were brought to justice."
BLOTTO LOUTS
Watson and Goodram became a sensation when their lovable rogue story hit the papers back in 2019.
CCTV footage caught of the win shows Watson dancing and jumping around while Goodram bangs his fists on the counter.
The serial criminals then immediately went on a spending spree in the capital, splashing a small fortune in bars and restaurants.
The ecstatic pair recorded a video showing off their jackpot ticket.
Holding a bottle of vodka next to him Goodram slurred: "How the f*** can that be a fake?"
Bragging about his Lotto success he boasted: "I’ve won £4million, stop hating. Stop hating, look, we’ve won £4mill. Just take it, we’ve won it. Stop chatting s**t man."
I've had my card stolen before, I was like 'why is this such a big deal?' no one ever explained it to me
Joshua Addyman
Wearing a grey ‘Just Do It’ Nike t-shirt, the unshaven crook held up his winning scratch-card and went on: “Buy one if you don’t believe me. Tramps? We don’t need to chat sh*t. It’s real. A safe is a safe. £4mill. Buzzing.”
They briefly fell out, after Watson claimed he had won full rights to the winning card in a poker game with Goodram.
Their exploits even earned them the nickname 'Blotto Louts' after they shared social media snaps of themselves downing cocktails and Champagne.
Goodram had accidentally let slip that he didn't neither had bank accounts or debit cards in a slurred phone quiz with Camelot chiefs.
Bosses at the company became suspicious, and investigator Stephen Long began a probe.
Goodram told Mr Long the card he'd used to buy the ticket belonged to a friend called John who "owed him money".
But he was unable to reveal 'John's' surname or address.
It was then discovered that the stolen card actually belonged to Josh.
Timeline of Blotto Lout saga
22 April, 2019: Easter Monday turned green for Jon-Ross Watson and Mark Goodram when they beat odds of 4,019,579/1 to win one of three maximum £4Million Red scratchcard jackpots. The pair begin a five day bender.
26 April, 2019: The pair finish their five day bender to talk exclusively with The Sun. They downed champagne, cocktails, lager, vodka, Jack Daniels, cider and wine. Yet to receive any money, they ask "where's our cash?" after Camelot chiefs became suspicious during a slurred phone call.
6 June, 2019: Louts threaten Camelot with legal action after lottery operator confirmed the win but refuses to pay up.
17 July, 2019: Pair claim that a mystery third person gave them permission to used the card.
15 March, 2020: Goodram is interviewed under suspicion of fraud while behind bars for assaulting his ex-lover. Watson is also behind bars for an unrelated incident.
17 July, 2020: The pair are charged with fraud by GMP accused of buying five scratchcards, including the jackpot winner, without the consent of the card holder.
18 September 2020: They lose the court battle as under the rules which applied to the scratchcard, Camelot had been entitled to reject the prize claim.
14 December, 2021: Both are jailed are pleading guilty in Bolton Crown Court to three counts of fraud.
Despite the net tightening around them, Watson and Goodram went on the offensive.
Watson, a convicted burglar, launched a media blitz, telling The Sun: "The Lottery catchline is ‘It Could Be You’. Well, it should be us.
“Camelot bosses are messing us around, probably because they know we’ve had a lively past and been in prison. Well, that’s too bad.
“They need to pay us what we are owed, or else.
“I should be living it up in Las Vegas.”
How the f*** can that be a fake?
Mark Goodram
He even claimed his life had been "ruined" by the company.
They even threatened to sue the lottery operator Camelot for £4million payout and £320,000 in interest.
But Mark Goodram was quizzed under caution in March 2020 while in prison for assaulting his ex-lover.
Court papers reveal they insist a man called “Cheung” gave them his card details after they helped him out during a cash row in a London brothel.
The pair were then charged in July 2020 by CPS.
Several months later they lost their legal battle with Camelot as the court ruled under the rules which applied to the scratchcard, Camelot had been entitled to reject the prize claim.
Both were jailed in December 2021 for 18 months each after admitting three counts of fraud by false representation.
Recorder Sarah Johnston at the Bolton Crown Court said: "You must have thought all your Christmases had come at once.
"I still can't understand on what planet, frankly, the defendants thought they were going to hoodwink a jury into believing they were not acting dishonestly."
Detective Constable Michelle Wilkinson, of Greater Manchester Police's Complex Fraud Team, said at the time: "This was quite an extraordinary case as Goodram and Watson's chances of claiming this scratch-card were one in four million.
"Unfortunately for them, they had knowingly bought this ticket through fraudulent means.
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"While the massive winnings were never put in the wrong hands and no one came to any harm, there is no doubt in my mind that these men would have gladly accepted this money without any remorse for their illicit ways of obtaining it.
"The vigilance of staff at Camelot has to be commended, and the subsequent investigation by our team at the Complex Fraud Team has ensured that these two men are rightly behind bars and can learn to accept how their selfish and unscrupulous actions were far from acceptable."
