I won a £1 million lottery with my girlfriend, then she dumped me 'out of the blue' and won't give me a cent

A COUPLE are at war over a winning £1million Lotto scratch card.

Michael Cartlidge, 39, and Charlotte Cox, 37, bought it from a shop in Spalding, Lincs.

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But she left him weeks later and was deemed the sole winner by the new winner Lottery leaders.

A source said: “£1million has never brought so much misery.”

Charlotte paid for it and scratched it off, but Michael claims he suggested the idea and tried to wire her money at the store to cover the purchase.

He says mother-of-one Charlotte initially decided to share the money but walked out on him weeks later before claiming she was the sole winner.

Heads of the lottery Camelot launched an investigation – including reviewing CCTV footage from the store – and had indicated to Michael that the £1 million would be split.

But it is understood new lottery owners Allwyn have now ruled that Charlotte is the rightful owner.

Security engineer Michael, from Spalding, Lincs, claims he is entitled to half the money and is set to take legal action.

He said: “I'm in shock. I can openly admit that we wouldn't have gotten that ticket without Charlotte, but neither would she without me.

“I know it was her bank account that paid for it, but morally it should be 50-50.”

However, Charlotte pushed back on his 'nonsense' claims last night.

And sources close to her insisted her ex-boyfriend has “no right” to the money as she paid for the winning ticket.

They added: 'One million pounds has never brought so much misery.

“It has ruined the last three months for her and her family.”

The couple had been to date for three months when they hit the jackpot thanks to an impulse purchase on Friday evening.

Michael was living in Charlotte's house at the time and they went to their local Lidl to buy duck pancakes for dinner.

He then claims that he suggested going to Nisa next one door to buy a pair of £5 scratch cards.

The father of one said: 'She said she had no money to spend on scratch cards, but I said I would transfer the money to her.

“We were in the store and I went on my Halifax app because I didn't have my debit card.

“I know it was her bank account that paid for it, but morally it should be 50-50.”

Michael

“I started the transfer, I held it up to show her. You can see me doing this at Camelot's CCTV shop.

“The signal was bad so it didn't get through to the store at that time, it was just transferring. The small loading circle spun around.

“She bought the two tickets on her card and when we got home she scratched them open.”

To their surprise, one of the Dice Towers scratch cards won them the £1 million jackpot. Michael said: “We couldn't believe it. We were in a state of shock. It was really crazy.

“I opened my app about 40 minutes later and it pinged when the transfer was complete.”

The jubilant duo spent the evening taking photos of the winning card, including one of Michael holding it.

The next day they went to the store to verify the win and received a pink card that said: “Tell player to contact Lottery Line.”

Michael said they took a trip to the seaside to celebrate with fish and chips. He claims the couple also discussed buying a house and a car when the winnings came in. He recalled: 'Everything went well, we had put Charlotte's name on the back of the card and it would be in her name but on a joint account.

“We were talking about a new house, maybe a three-bedroom detached house. And she wanted a new car, nothing fancy, just one Kia or something Nice.”

The father continued: “After speaking with Camelot, we were told that we had to set up private banking. We went to NatWest in Spalding and met with them on Monday. It was just over three weeks after we won.”

We were talking about a new house, maybe a three-bedroom detached house.

Michael

However, Michael claimed he was then stunned when Charlotte asked him to leave “out of the blue” through a friend.

So he did and took the winning card with him.

Michael said: “On Monday morning she [Charlotte] left the house and never came back.

'I got a call from my girlfriend saying she had reached out and wanted me to leave the house. From then on things started to get weird. I knew she was up to something. I thought, 'Oh, here we go.' She left the scratch card at home, so I took it and went to stay with my mother.

“Then she came home and realized I had the ticket and Camelot needed it.

“It was then that the people involved with our victory over Camelot realized there was a problem. I contacted the two women involved in our victory and I gave them the card.

'Went back to the legal team'

Michael says he handed it over to Camelot staff on November 21st. A representative then traveled to Lincolnshire to interview the couple separately about the dispute. Michael said: “They have taken the CCTV footage from the store where you can clearly see me showing the screen of my phone to Charlotte and the woman behind the till to show that the app is active and money is being transferred .

“They also interviewed the woman in the store and she supported it. As far as I knew, it was agreed after that that we would split it.

“Camelot had the ticket back and it was just a matter of paperwork.”

Michael said he spent it Christmas Eve at Charlotte's house dressed up as Santa Claus for her child and believed the couple had put the scratch card dispute behind them. On January 25, a Camelot official sent a message to both Charlotte and Michael.

It read: “Hello both, we have currently gone back to the legal team to decide what we should draft for you to sign in regards to sharing the prize, if that is something you have both agreed to.

“This should at least save you from paying a lawyer. We're almost there for you.”

You can't believe a word that man says

Source near Charlotte

But on February 10, less than two weeks after new owner Allwyn took control of the company national lottery, Michael received a letter stating that he was not entitled to a cent. He said: 'I'm willing to fight to make sure I get paid what I deserve. Especially after Camelot agreed to this. Now that the new owner has taken over, they have made a complete turnaround.”

However, Charlotte told The Sun: “I bought the ticket. He didn't transfer the money to me.

“It's all nonsense, I don't want anything to do with it.”

A close source of hers added: “You can't believe a word a man says. This has ruined the last three months for her and her family. It has caused nothing but unrest throughout the Christmas period.

'Mike has no right to this money. He's not a nice person. Charlotte won, she paid for the ticket and scratched the ticket.

“The case is closed.”

Last night Allwyn said only the name written on the back of the ticket can claim the prize.

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It told The Sun: “The National Lottery Rules for Scratch Card Games make it clear that only one person can be the owner of a ticket and only the person whose name and address are written on the back of a winning scratch card can claim a prize .

“This means that a prize can only be paid out to one person and this is always clearly communicated to prize winners.

“Where a claimant agrees to share a prize with other parties (for example players in a syndicate) after the prize has been paid, we always recommend that a legal agreement is drawn up between the interested parties.

“If there is no agreement, any dispute between the parties must be resolved mutually.”