Bungling burglars miss out on jackpot

THREE bungling burglars who stole �700 worth of scratch cards from Tesco Express in Highgate will not be able to fully cash in on their stolen prize if they hit jackpot.

The suspects allegedly kicked in the door of the supermarket in Highgate High Street and then grabbed the scratch card machine from behind the counter at 12.45am on Monday.

Although it contained �700 worth of National Lottery scratch cards, which cost between �1 and �5 to buy, the thieves would not have been able to claim more than �500 on any of the stolen cards.

This is because an employee at Tesco contacted the National Lottery at 9am with the serial numbers of each card, cancelling them. Prize winners have to go to a post office in order to make a claim of more than �500 but none would have been open in the small hours of Monday, making it impossible for them to cash in on their loot. Anyone claiming �50,000 or more has to contact Camelot in person. The maximum amount anyone can win with a scratch card is �1 million.

Jiffrey Mohammed, 25, team leader at the store said: “Each night we record the serial numbers of each card so I rang the National Lottery first thing on Monday to cancel them.”

Police are understood to be studying CCTV of the incident.