A GRAVESEND shopkeeper who told a £79,000 lottery winner he had won just a tenner has narrowly avoided jail.

Imran Pervais, 26, of Milton Road, denied one count of fraud during a three-day trial at Maidstone Crown Court in March but it took a jury just two hours and 30 minutes to find him guilty.

Pervais was working in Moores Convenience Store, in MacKenzie Way, at the time of the con.

On May 18 last year syndicate organiser Callum Crosier routinely visited the store to check the 28 lines his office group entered each week and to buy the same lines for the draw the following day.

Although one of his tickets matched five balls and the bonus ball, Pervais told Mr Crosier the jackpot-winning ticket was worth only £10.

Sentencing Pervais at the same court this morning, Judge David Griffiths-Jones told the father-of-two that while the fraud was "opportunistic" it was "especially mean spirited."

He said: "It was calculated to deprive Mr Crosier and his syndicate of a substantial amount of money and in the process deprive him of what might have been subsequently described as the romantic joy which the win would have represented for them.

"Such a chance is what the lottery is all about and your offence was, in the circumstances, particularly mean-spirited.

"It was motivated particularly by your own dishonest self-interest and your desire to profit from the extraordinary good fortune of the winners."

He added: "It is clear that you remain largely in denial and therefore it cannot really be said that you have shown any real remorse or insight into the true impact of your behaviour.

"Albeit serious, this was a single incident of fraud and one which derived from an impulse decision on your part.

"It was a compulsive albeit catastrophic aberration on your part.

"Whilst a prison sentence is demanded, I take the view there is no need for you to serve the sentence immediately. There is good reason to believe that you will not re-offend."

Pervais was handed a 12-month prison sentence, suspended for two years, and ordered to carry out 200 hours of unpaid work.

He was placed on curfew and cannot leave his home between 7pm and 6pm for the next four months, while he must also pay £1,000 toward costs.

John Fitzgerald, mitigating, said the "family man" felt a "profound sense of shame" following his conviction.

He said: "This was opportunistic and spur-of-the-moment and he now finds himself staring down the barrel of a prison sentence.

"This case has devastated the profits of his family business.

"Having a lottery franchise brings in a stream of customers. The franchise has been taken away and with it the steady stream and a household income.

"The strain on the family dynamic has been huge."

He added that Pervais, whose father attended sentencing with him today, lives with his wife in the family home and his youngest child is just eight months old.

Mr Fitzgerald also said Pervais has a number of interviews lined up in the retail industry and he has not "wallowed in sorrow" since the jury found him guilty.

Giving evidence during the trial, Mr Crosier explained how he won £10 on the first ticket that was scanned and when the third of his four tickets was processed, the lottery machine made a sound to indicate it had also won a prize.

He said: "At the time I didn't take much notice.

"He sort of like double-checked the ticket.

"He looked at the ticket and said 'yes' when I asked if it was another tenner.

"He just put the ticket on the side next to him."

The next Monday, Mr Crosier looked on a spreadsheet he kept to find out which staff member chose the numbers when he realised he had matched five correct numbers.

He told the court: "I checked and realised it was just £1,000. I felt guilty as I had messed up.

"I went down to my local shop to see if they had the ticket."

On arrival with his colleague, Pervais told him the winning ticket would still be at the store as all winning tickets are retained for six months.

He said he would check the store bins for the ticket and Mr Crosier should return in a few hours.

Mr Crosier returned to his office in Chatham.

He explained: "They were all excited because we had won over £1,000 and it was the first time we had ever won on the lottery.

"I said I haven't even checked the bonus ball."

After checking the National Lottery website and realising the bonus ball was matched too, Mr Crosier said he "was gutted".

He told the court: "I told my boss and he hit the roof.

"He said 'get back down to that shop'.

"My mood had changed from thinking I had won £1,000.

"I said I'm not leaving this shop until I have got this ticket in my hand.

"That ticket is worth £80,000. You can make a mistake but £80,000 is completely different."

Mr Crosier and his colleagues then searched through three bags for the winning ticket.

It was eventually found "screwed up and torn" under the counter of the shop below the till after one of the staff used a broom to sweep under the counter.

Mr Crosier told jurors: "I went out to the boys with a smile on my face."