A MAN whose stolen debit card was used to buy a winning £4million scratchcard is now asking if he should see some of the cash.
Joshua Addyman’s card details were used when the ‘Blotto Louts’ hit the jackpot in 2019.
But the 29-year-old had no idea of his involvement until The Sun approached him last week.
Jon-Ross Watson and Mark Goodram, from Bolton, bought the winning scratchcard while on a stealing safari in London.
The Sun told 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.
But their bungling conspiracy faltered after letting slip they didn’t have bank accounts – with Camelot investigating the win.
They then made their claim to the cash public saying a pal who wanted to “remain anonymous” had given them the debit card.
Both were career criminals before the win, with Goodram racking up 22 convictions for 45 criminal offences. Watson has 72 convictions for 133 offences.
They eventually pleaded guilty to fraud after police investigated the win – returning the louts back to the clink.
Josh exclusively told The Sun he had “absolutely no idea” he was involved with the story and had never met the pair.
He’s now been left wondering if he should have seen some of the jackpot since his card was used.
He said: “If I got any of it that [the £4million] would be brilliant.”
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 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’.
“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 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.
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
Jon-Ross Watson
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.
He 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.”
He said if he got any money from the win he would buy a house in London and take his family on holiday.
But experts The Sun spoke to said it was unlikely that Josh would see any of the cash.
A GMP spokesperson said: “We conducted a full investigation into a case of fraud by false misrepresentation which resulted in two men receiving custodial sentences.
‘WINNER HIT ME FOR 8K’
A VICTIM of Mark Goodram told The Sun: “He’s a scumbag”.
Adam Czutkowna suffered after the crack cocaine addict broke into his backstreet garage in Bolton in August 2018.
Goodram stole £8,000 cash, a passport, personal documents, a camcorder and a mobile phone containing treasured photos of Adam’s late mum.
Adam, 67, said Goodram even stole a hospice collection box.
Goodram was jailed for just eight months in November 2018.
He received a further three months for burglary at an Aldi, handling stolen goods, possession of a BB gun and absconding from court.
He has 22 convictions for 45 offences. Pal Watson has 72 convictions for 133 offences.
Adam blasted: “The robbery almost ruined me both financially and health-wise.
“If the win is genuine, they should pay back not just what they owe me but everyone else they stole from. If not, then they shouldn’t profit from their ill-gotten gains. It’s just wrong.”
Watson used to live with his grandparents in Bolton. Neighbours liked the pair, but didn’t have a good word about him.
Martin Hughes, 74, said: “He’d always be nicking stuff. I think once he stole someone’s washing from a line.”
“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.”
A spokesperson for lottery operator Allwyn said Josh didn’t have any claim to the money given that the ticket was purchased fraudulently.
They said: “There has been no reason for us to contact him as he is not the owner of the ticket and he has not contacted us.
“The prize in question will be paid to National Lottery Good Causes after the expiry of the statutory limitation period starting from the end of the prize claim period for the relevant Scratchcard game.”
BLOTTO LOUTS
The pair 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 pair 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.”
All they sounded like was that my card got stolen and they were going way over the top with it
Josh 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.
Despite the net tightening around them, Watson and Goodram went on the offensive.
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.
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.”
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.
“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.”
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.”
Robert Johnson is a UK-based business writer specializing in finance and entrepreneurship. With an eye for market trends and a keen interest in the corporate world, he offers readers valuable insights into business developments.
