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Post by Deleted on Jul 25, 2009 15:25:00 GMT
Amanda Stacey and her husband, Michael, who found a winning lottery ticket on the floor of a shop and collected the £30,000 prize have been ordered to pay back half the money to the pensioner who originally bought it. The couple spent half the money clearing debts, buying new carpets and treating their children after Mrs Stacey spotted the slip in a Co-op supermarket in Swindon, Wilts.
However, Dorothy McDonagh, who had bought the £1 Daily Play ticket, rang the lottery operator Camelot after discovering she had mislaid it. The police were called when it was discovered the jackpot had already been claimed.
The Staceys were later given 11-month suspended sentences after admitting charges of fraud.
Well, so far, so good. But it some of the quotes from the people concerne are perhaps worth a bit of thought The pensioner is reported as saying she planned to take legal action against Camelot for the remaining sum. She said: "It is jolly decent of them all to only let me have a half share of my win. I am sure Camelot will be very pleased. And what do you make of this: The Staceys declined to comment. Their solicitor, Robbie Ross, said they thought finding the ticket was "luck not theft".
He said: "If the lady wants to get the other £15,000 back that is her own business but we have always known that this £15,000 would be repaid.
"They (the Staceys) didn't think they were stealing; they thought it was good luck and they would ride their luck."
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Post by Liberator on Jul 25, 2009 15:42:52 GMT
I guess we'd all take advantage. Stealing by Finding is quite a serious offence but there does have to be some sympathy here, that if they had not found it, nobody would be any the wiser and she not have had any money at all. I notice how newspapers always like to slip some sentimentality in - 'the pensioner' (poor doddery old dear).
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Post by Deleted on Jul 25, 2009 18:46:41 GMT
Perhaps I should have turned this into one of those "conscience" threads - you know the thing I mean:
"If you found a lottery ticket blowing in the wind and it happened to be a winning one, would you:
a) pocket the lot b) give the winnings to charity c) tell Camelot that you found it c) sell your story to the Daily Mirror"
Other. Come on Alpha - you can embellish.
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Post by Big Lin on Jul 25, 2009 18:59:40 GMT
Only Alpha?
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Post by Deleted on Jul 25, 2009 20:22:03 GMT
Goodness me no. What was I thinking of? I'm sure you could knock his offerings into a cocked hat, Lin!
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Post by mouse on Jul 25, 2009 23:16:01 GMT
I I notice how newspapers always like to slip some sentimentality in - 'the pensioner' (poor doddery old dear). i saw this woman on the news...doddery is correct
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Post by Liberator on Jul 25, 2009 23:42:34 GMT
But not all pensioners are. It's one of those things, if somebody has a bit of bad luck, then if it's a man in a good job and the best of health then they'll give as little detail as possible, but if they can add 'pensioner', or 'mum' or 'charity worker' or anything with some sort of sentimental value, then you can bet they'll do it. It's the same whenever there's a 'mad' attack (which there've been a few of recent months) - some woman just walking out of a supermarket and stabbing another, or some child getting beaten up, they are always 'lovely people with no enemies'; it's never a case that "she was a right nasty-minded old waggon and if somebody hadn't done it, somebody else would" or "he was a vicious little gurrier that had put everybody's back up". The only good thing to come out of it is that where women when possible always used to be "mother of so-many" but men were just men, now they are usually "father of so-many".
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Post by Deleted on Jul 26, 2009 8:00:25 GMT
What is puzzling me is why Mrs McDonagh thinks she has grounds to sue Camelot. Apparently she has told the press her lips are sealed, and Camelot are denying liability; perhaps they paid out after she reported the loss? I can see no other ground.
Camelot suggest people write their name and address on the back of their tickets when they buy them. I won't be doing that; someone silly enough to drop their ticket on the shop floor might be silly enough to go out with their doors unlocked.
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Post by Liberator on Jul 27, 2009 14:02:12 GMT
They could do it like a raffle or a check though, and keep a stub with the name on it. Claimants would then have to identify themselves.
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Post by everso on Jul 27, 2009 17:46:53 GMT
I would have kept the ticket and when it came up trumps I would have told the shop owner and the police (who presumably would then have put the ticket into safe keeping). I think after so long, if lost property is not claimed, it becomes the finder's property, doesn't it?
Maybe I'm missing something here, but this woman was careless enough to drop the lottery ticket in the first place. How come she's going to sue Camelot? They have to pay out when a ticket is produced, don't they? It's not up to them to vouch for the ticket owner's authenticity.
Stupid woman. And, yes, I agree with Ratarsed that emotive language is annoying. Why is it pensioners are always supposedly lovely? Mean young men and women become mean old men and women - they don't suddenly metamorphose into dear little grey-haired cherubs once they pass 65.
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Post by Alpha Hooligan on Jul 27, 2009 21:45:59 GMT
Perhaps I should have turned this into one of those "conscience" threads - you know the thing I mean: "If you found a lottery ticket blowing in the wind and it happened to be a winning one, would you: a) pocket the lot b) give the winnings to charity c) tell Camelot that you found it c) sell your story to the Daily Mirror" Other. Come on Alpha - you can embellish. Naturally, I'd cash it in, and then hire a hitman to arrange a tragic accident for the rightful ticket owner...thus eliminating any counter claims or legal nastiness. AH
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Post by Liberator on Jul 27, 2009 21:50:19 GMT
Stupid woman. And, yes, I agree with Ratarsed that emotive language is annoying. Why is it pensioners are always supposedly lovely? Mean young men and women become mean old men and women - they don't suddenly metamorphose into dear little grey-haired cherubs once they pass 65. I'd go further that often people reverse. Wide-eyed loving liberals turn into disillusioned believers in do unto others before they do it to you and rampant Social Darwinists mellow when they meet more vicious creatures than themselves and realise the logical conclusion of their early belief is one ultra-carnivore dying of starvation (or its financial equivalent). Of course some people who always knew everything have no space left to ever learn anything, so die as ignorant as they were born.
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Post by Deleted on Jul 29, 2009 11:07:36 GMT
I'd go further that often people reverse. Ah yes. They say you know you've reached middle age when your broad mind and your narrow waist finally change places.
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