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True Crime Campfire

The Millionaire That Wasn't: The Tale of the Lottery Liar

True Crime Campfire

True Crime Campfire

True Crime, Society & Culture, History

4.81.5K Ratings

🗓️ 5 November 2021

⏱️ 46 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

In 1998, South Yorkshire residents Howard Walmsley and his wife Kathy were on top of the world. After years of financial struggle as they tried to get Howard's painting and decorating business off the ground, they finally hit a stroke of luck: Howard won the lottery. Kathy was thrilled at the thought of being able to get out from under their bills, take a lavish holiday, and spoil their friends and family. But there was one thing that plucked at the back of her mind: Howard would never be specific about how much he'd won. Why was that? Well, campers, Howard was lying through his teeth. He hadn't really won a single pound. He was about to drag his wife along on a bizarre, years-long con, a lie that got bigger and bigger by the day before finally crashing down around them. Join us for the story of one of England's most audacious scammers, a man who is currently a fugitive, wanted by the South Yorkshire police for fraud.

Sources:
Documentary film "The Lottery Liar"
https://www.lottoexposed.com/lottery-conman-john-eric-wells-continues-pursuing-the-easy-life-in-vietnam/
https://www.itv.com/thismorning/articles/i-was-conned-out-of-my-life-savings
https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/10015394/lotto-faked-jackpot-hunted-conning/
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-7515013/Lottery-conman-accused-tricking-three-grandmothers-400-000-living-Vietnam.html
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-70362/Three-years-liar-invented-8m-lottery-win.html
https://www.lottoanalyst.com/howard-walmsley-the-man-who-faked-winning-the-lottery

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Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0

Hello campers, grab your marshmallows and gather around the true crime campfire.

0:04.9

Wear your camp counselors, I'm Katie, and I'm Whitney.

0:08.4

And we're here to tell you a true story that is way stranger than fiction, or roasting

0:12.5

murderers and marshmallows around the true crime campfire.

0:21.6

Serial killer Israel keys once said, everything's free if you take it.

0:26.4

Bit of an oversimplification, of course, doesn't take into account the potential fallout

0:30.7

of that philosophy, but of course if you're Israel, you couldn't care less about that.

0:35.3

What you care about is what you can grab today.

0:38.0

If you're gonna worry about consequences at all, you can worry about them tomorrow.

0:42.4

Most of us don't tend to see these people coming.

0:45.2

We think, surely nobody would lie about that, or nobody would do something that insane,

0:51.1

right?

0:52.1

So a lot of the time when we come across an audacious con, we ignore our little inner alarm

0:56.9

system, that little voice in the back of our minds that's frantically waving its arms

1:01.2

trying to get our attention.

1:03.1

Poor little thing.

1:04.6

That little guy was no match for the specimen in today's story.

1:08.1

This is the millionaire that wasn't, the tale of the lottery liar.

1:25.6

So campers, for this one we're in dear old blighty, by which I mean England, donkaster

1:30.7

and southeorxure specifically.

1:33.0

Home of puddings that aren't puddings and little yippie dogs and a chap by the name of

1:36.6

Howard Wombsley.

...

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