A newsagent has been jailed after she stole a winning lottery ticket taken to her shop by a loyal customer – and her husband tried to claim the £156,000 prize.
Shopkeeper Anne Jeevarajah, 38, kept the lucky ticket when winner Gwyn Badham-Davies, 73, took it to her store to see if he had won.
She checked it on her machine at the family’s shop in Hingham, near Watton, Norfolk, but did not tell the pensioner he had won a small fortune.
Her husband, Alfred Jeevarajah, 45, then brazenly rang up lottery organisers Camelot and told them he had won.
The couple were jailed for 14 months each at Norwich Crown Court yesterday.
Chris Youell, prosecuting, said Mr Badham-Davies went into the village shop on June 25 last year to buy his usual numbers and a lucky dip.
The pensioner then asked Mrs Jeevarajah to check his lottery numbers from the previous week.
She realised he had won but didn’t tell Mr Badham-Davies. Her husband then made his fraudulent claim on July 2.
But Camelot became suspicious because there was a delay between the date the ticket was bought and the claim being made.
Mr Youell said alarm bells also started ringing when Camelot discovered Mr Jeevarajah was a shopkeeper.
Mrs Jeevarajah yesterday admitted
Shocked Mr Badham-Davies only found out he had won when Mr Jeevarajah told him after police and Camelot launched an investigation.
The keen lottery player usually bought his tickets at his local village store but purchased his winning ticket at Tesco in nearby Watton.
Ian James, defending, said the devastated family would pay a huge price, losing their business and home.
Mr James said: ‘They are very unlikely candidates to be standing before a crown court judge.
‘Their customers are, in many cases, extremely happy with them.
‘They have spent some years to build up their business.’
He added: ‘The local community benefit from services they provide.’
Mr James described the fraud as a ‘momentary succumbing to temptation’.
Judge Alasdair Darroch told the Jeevarajahs as he jailed them: ‘It was a flagrant breach of trust.
‘This is the sort of matter which the public expects to be dealt with very seriously.’
After the hearing Mr Badham-Davies, who has since been paid his £156,000 win, said he had bought lottery tickets at the shop every week.
He said his village life had been ruined by the crime but insisted he felt no anger towards the couple.
Mr Badham-Davies, of Hingham, said: ‘I don’t feel any malice or animosity. I see it as a betrayal.
‘I feel hurt about it, but they made a mistake. I forgive them.
‘The only thing that upset me, to an extent, is it really spoiled my village life. I loved going into that village shop.’
When Camelot became suspicious they told police, who launched an investigation and Mr Badham-Davies was asked to avoid the shop.
He added: ‘It upset me because the girls who work there are really nice ladies and there was an ongoing friendship.’
Last night villagers spoke of their shock as the shop displayed a ‘closed until further notice’ sign on its door.
One lady said she was ‘gobsmacked’ while a neighbour said the family had always been friendly.
Det Con Sophie Getley, of Norwich CID, investigated the bizarre lottery hijack.
She said: ‘The sentences given today underline the fact that this type of fraud is taken very seriously by Norfolk Constabulary and by Camelot and will be investigated robustly.’
