I was a millionaire, but I blew it all with helicopters and bicycles – I ended up homeless

A LOTTO winner who scooped an eye-watering £6.5million jackpot and blew it all on supercars, mansions and helicopters has been left homeless.

Lee Ryan, known as the Lotto Lag, called his life-changing windfall a “curse” after two divorces, nightmare investments and ending up on the streets.

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He and his girlfriend Karen Taylor hit the jackpot in 1995 when they lived in a council house in Leicester with their three children.

They played the lucky ticket while Lee was awaiting trial for dealing with stolen cars, and he was in jail when the money came through.

It made Lee the first ever British lottery winner to be jailed, but not the only one to fall victim to the 'Lotto curse'.

He previously said, “My cellmate warned me to be careful what I wished for,” as he prayed for the money.

“The money was a curse,” he added.

After serving nine months, the multimillionaire spent his money on a lavish £1million mansion and a collection of luxury cars.

He had his Bentley, Ferrari, Porsche and BMW all personalized with the license plates LEE 1, LEE 2, LEE 3, LEE 4.

Lee also spent money on two Ducati superbikes, a £125,000 plane and a £235,000 Bell JetRanger helicopter.

However, by 2003 he had split with Karen and moved to Kyrgyzstan with his new girlfriend Jyldyz Djangaracheva, 24.

After the failure of his marriage to Karen, Lee lost £2 million on bad investments.

He even tried to run a fish farm in his second wife's home country, but it was taken over by the local mafia.

To make matters worse, much of his winnings were stolen by local officials and a housekeeper robbed him of £40,000.

Meanwhile, an arsonist set fire to his £145,000 Ferrari and £15,000 caravan.

This led to another divorce and Lee returned to Britain broke.

He slept rough for two years as he reflected on losing the £6.5 million jackpot.

Lee previously told the Mirror: “Be careful what you wish for. People always think, 'Oh, if I win tomorrow, my worries will be over.'

“That's just not true, this is just the beginning of your worries.

“You will see who is who in your life, even in your own family it will be broken. It's all just an illusion really.”

New start

Lee managed to recover his wealth and save himself from the streets.

He found a job as a painter and decorator that gave him inner peace.

The Lotto winner, who now lives in Twickenham, south-west London, said: 'Aside from death, you can't get to much more rock bottom than being homeless, so I tested myself and it's all good.

“Sometimes even now I spend my nights in tents just to remind myself that I am bombproof, I have been through it all.

“Now I'm just looking for that middle ground where you still have to strive for what you want, instead of just having it handed to you.”

Looking back on his life, Lee said: 'There was a time when I prayed for my pound back. But now I'm happier at this point than I've ever been in my life.”

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