£2.5M LOTTO FORGER FREED

Accomplice'’s pals furious as jackpot conman is released

- DAN WARBURTON

A RAPIST who used a fake ticket to claim a £2.5million lottery jackpot has been freed early.

Builder Eddie Putman, 58, was released this month after serving less than half of a nine-year prison sentence for forging the jackpotwinning ticket.

He had been assisted by Camelot worker Giles Knibbs, who committed suicide in 2015 after Putman duped him out of his share of the windfall.

And Putman's release has angered friends of his late partner in crime.

A friend of the Knibbs family said: "Giles is gone and Putman is free how is that fair? Giles was exploited and took his own life.

"Now Putman has been freed and has the rest of his life ahead of him." Putman was convicted of the lottery con in 2019 and received a £939,000 confiscation order.

Last year it was revealed that he had paid off £94,000 before his home in Kings Langley, Hertfordshire, was seized by prosecutors.

The property eventually sold for £1.2million at auction.

It means Putman could have £355,000 left after settling his debt, however the court has the power to increase the value of the confiscation order.

The rundown house, near the M25 motorway, was damaged in a blaze in October 2022.