Shop worker who tried
to claim £1m win jailed

Farrakh Nizzar, 30, 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 £1m 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 gave no reaction as he was jailed at Minshull Street Crown Court in Manchester.

Passing sentence, Recorder Philip Cattan told the defendant: “This goes to the heart of public confidence in the National Lottery.

“The courts must demonstrate to you and to others that this type of fraud will be met by significant custody.”

Duncan Wilcock, prosecuting, told the court that Mrs Holt went to their local convenience store, Best One in Watersheddings, Oldham, where Nizzar worked.

Mr Wilcock told the court: “While there she got the tickets checked by this defendant, who was known to them by the nickname Lucky.

“She asked him to check the lottery tickets. Lucky told her she had not won.”

When Camelot confronted Nizzar with the evidence he “looked at the floor for some time” but claimed it was his ticket and blamed his “bad memory”.