I won £1.8 million in the lottery, but our marriage collapsed and I was left with £7

WINNING the lottery led to misery rather than joy for one couple.

Roger and Lara Griffiths, from Wetherby, West Yorkshire, earned a whopping £1.8 million in 2005.

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Their expenses included an £800,000 barn conversion, flashy cars and five-star holidays.

The couple also sent their two daughters to a £10,000-a-year school.

Then began a catalog of misfortunes when they broke up over an alleged affair.

Their house burned down and Roger – who was responsible for the money – admitted that everything was gone.

In 2013 he reportedly still had £7 in the bank.

Former teacher Lara claimed the huge jackpot destroyed their marriage.

She said she found emails between him and a friend that showed he was planning an affair with a friend – something he strongly denied.

Thinking back to the moment he left the parental home, Lara said: “How do you process that? I had a four-year-old and a seven-year-old daughter.

‘I think I was just screaming. I just couldn’t ignore it.

“He claimed he had not had an affair and that he had planned to, but he had not carried it out.

‘And that it was just a catalyst for him leaving me because I was a *** woman.

“I was having a really hard time emotionally because my father had only recently passed away, so things were quite unsettled at home.

“I couldn’t get over how he handled it.”

In a statement to The Sun, Roger claimed he had simply “fallen out of love” with Lara and was “terribly unhappy”.

Lara admitted their marriage wasn’t perfect, but said they seemed happy.

Now, ten years later, Lara runs a tattoo parlor and make-up studio from a shed in her garden seven days a week.

She now lives in the house she and Roger bought before their windfall with their two daughters Ruby and Kitty.

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