By Julia Richardson and Dan Corridor
THEY say that cash cannot purchase happiness – as those that’ve skilled the “lottery curse” know all too nicely.
Regardless of hitting the jackpot, numerous lotto winners have suffered astonishing tragedies from the breakdown of their marriages to dropping the whole lot they personal.
Cocaine automobile crash
Callie Rogers grew to become Britain’s youngest lottery winner when she received £1.9million in 2003.
The 16-year-old from Cumbria gave up her £3.60-an-hour checkout job and set about spending her cash.
Inside a month Callie, who was in foster care after leaving residence when her organic dad and mom cut up up, had additionally purchased a £180,000 bungalow and a £76,000 residence for her mum.
She finally blew 1000’s on wild events, three boob jobs and medicines, plus round £300,000 on designer garments.
She later described the win as a “curse” which drove her to contemplate suicide.
Eighteen years after her win, Callie was discovered to be claiming Common Credit score after blowing her fortune. The revelation got here throughout a trial after she was concerned in a automobile crash whereas on cocaine in December 2020.
‘Roman-style orgies’
The self-styled ‘King of Chavs’ was 19 when he scooped £9,736,131 on the Nationwide Lottery in November 2002.
Michael Carroll, who was carrying an digital tag when he purchased his profitable ticket, splashed £340,000 on a six-bedroom residence in Norfolk.
Not content material with the swish property, he lavished £400,000 on a collection of upgrades together with a swimming pool and a automobile monitor within the backyard.
Michael additionally spent round £1million on shares in his beloved Rangers FC and £49,000 on a BMW.
By February 2010 Michael was declared bankrupt and was claiming Jobseeker’s Allowance.
He misplaced his whole fortune and was discovered working for £10 an hour chopping wooden and delivering coal in 2019.
Monetary crash disaster
Roger Griffiths and his spouse Lara netted £1.8million on the Nationwide Lottery in 2005.
The couple loved the excessive life and went on a lavish spending spree splashing £800,000 on a barn conversion in Wetherby, West Yorks, together with flash vehicles and five-star holidays in Dubai, New York and Monaco.
Wannabe rock star Roger additionally spent £25,000 making a document along with his outdated band from Lancaster College.
The couple invested in property and a magnificence salon however the monetary crash noticed the worth of their portfolio plummet.
On New Yr’s Eve 2010, the couple’s residence went up in flames – a catastrophe which was made worse by the home being underinsured.
By 2013 the cash had gone and the couple had cut up up, every blaming one another for the reversal of their fortunes.
From mansion to homeless
Ex-jailbird Lee Ryan scooped the £6.5million jackpot simply 17 weeks after the lottery was launched on November 14 1994.
He made headlines when it emerged he was accused of dealing with stolen vehicles and was imprisoned for 18 months after his large payout.
Lee then spent a decade residing the excessive life and splashed his money on luxurious vehicles, a helicopter and a £2million mansion.
However Lee ended up penniless, spent two years residing on the road and shacked up in a tiny flat in London he shared with homeless friends.
Furlough money row
Gillian and Adrian Bayford’s lives modified in a single day in 2012 once they scooped a staggering £148million.
However simply 15 months after the win, their eight-year marriage ended with each events partly blaming stress from their mind-boggling win.
Ever because the pair’s love lives have been within the headlines for all of the mistaken causes.
Adrian shacked up with ex-horse groom Samantha Burbidge, who’s 16 years his junior.
However after three years collectively, she bolted from his £6million home together with with 30 horses, a horse field, and a automobile he gifted her to get again collectively together with her ex-boyfriend.
In 2018, his new companion Lisa Kemp dumped him after she discovered saucy emails he’d despatched to an ex.
The next yr, Gillian was convicted of attacking her ex-lover Gavin Innes throughout their relationship, which led to 2017.
Gillian got here beneath hearth when it was revealed she’d claimed almost £40,000 in furlough money for her property enterprise regardless of her large win.
On the time she stated: “I am not paying it again.”
Dying after lotto win ‘destroyed life’
Margaret Loughrey scooped £27m in 2013 and have become Northern Eire’s greatest winner on the time – however she admitted that vast fortune did not carry her happiness.
She stated at one stage: “Cash has introduced me nothing however grief. It has destroyed my life.”
Tragically, in September final yr, Margaret, by now in her 50s, was discovered useless in her residence.
Transferring tributes had been paid to the winner, who was residing in Strabane, saying that she was “well-known and did numerous good, charitable work”.
