The time is now 6:00 pm
You last visited
April 19, 2024, 3:27 pm
All times shown are
Eastern Time (GMT-5:00)
Mar 23, 2004, 4:43 am (4 comments)
A former ambulance driver in St. Albans who scooped £6m on the UK National Lottery lost his fortune after his new life turned into a nightmare.
Tom Papworth, 46, moved to Spain after his 1995 win, but says he was taken in by conmen, swindled, framed, and jailed for cocaine possession.
He told BBC's Newsnight programme this week that while he languished in jail for crimes he didn't commit, his new "friends" emptied his bank account and sold his plush apartment.
Mr Papworth claims the man behind the sting was an MI6 and police informer known as Joe Wilkins or John Fay. He wants to know why the known criminal, who is now dead, was allowed to carry out his scams with impunity.
Divorced Mr Papworth said two men befriended him on the Costa del Sol. But his idyllic lifestyle was shattered when gun-wielding Spanish officers arrested him for cocaine possession, although he said he saw the drugs being planted in his car.
He said he pleaded guilty because he was told he would be jailed for six months rather than 12 years.
But the six months became two-and-a-half years and he was released in February 2002 - to find his fortune had been taken by those who befreinded him.
"It was a horrific experience, especially when I hadn't done anything," he said this week.
"I've had to rebuild my life."
Herts Advertiser
You gatta feel sorry for the guy, all he was trying to do was live a happy life, try to make new friends and enjoy his winnings!
Be careful for what you wish for in life and take into consideration the friends you make,they either make or break you.Always surround yourself with people that will help to lift you up says Oprah.
Sounds like the Jack Whitaker of England.
I feel for the guy but that was very stupid of him to trust strangers like that in a foreign country with all that money.You don't trust people so easily when large sums of money or at hand.Everybody wants to be your friend all of a sudden I'm quite sure he learned a valuable and costly lesson.The criminal seems to have gotten punishment for his actions as well he's dead.