I’ve won an £80,000 Lotto prize but I’m desperate to get back on benefits
A GRANDPA who won an £80,000 Lotto prize is desperate to get his benefits again.
Daniel Millar from Motherwell, Scotland, collected the windfall but said he is worse off than before after managing to blow the entire sum in just a few weeks.
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A now thin Daniel, who has long-term health problems, did not tell the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) about the money.
His benefits were later stopped and he is now no longer eligible for income support, housing benefit and council tax relief, despite now having no money left.
The retiree collected the windfall in September 2017 and said it was all gone by November.
He is now desperate to get his benefits back.
Daniel said: “I didn’t know I had to tell the Department for Work and Pensions so I spent it all giving it to my two sons and my daughter, paid for two family holidays, refurbished my house and bought me clothes . and my wife.
“The money was all spent by November.
“In December I received a letter from the DWP saying I had to go to an appointment.
“They then told me I had been reported by the tax authorities because I had £80,000 in my bank.
“That was the case in September, but not when I went for a job interview. I had €7 overdrawn.
“Now they have stopped my benefits. The only income I have is my Personal Independence Allowance of £350 per month and a pension of £1.08 per week.
“I have to pay the full rent and council tax, so we have little to live on. My wife, who is my carer, gets £62 a week.
“She has to put that aside to pay other bills, such as gas, electricity and telephone.”
Wife Bridget added: “
“The DWP has said we are not entitled to any money. They say we have deprived ourselves of capital and are not eligible for the benefits.
“On the paperwork they ask about a change of circumstances, but they don’t specify what that means.
“We just don’t know what we’re going to do.”
Victims of the lottery ‘curse’
A LOT of us dream of winning big in the lottery, but what about when you actually do it? Isn’t it all flashy cars and glamorous photo shoots, and maybe the odd movie premiere? That wasn’t the case for this group, who – despite raking in millions of pounds – ended up in the hole.
Cocaine king
Self-styled King Of Chavs Michael Carroll wore an electronic anklet when he won £9.7million on the National Lottery in 2002.
He was 19 years old at the time and squandered his fortune on a six-bedroom country house in Norfolk, which he equipped with a swimming pool and a motor racing track.
His drug addiction caused Michael to spend £2,000 a day on cocaine, which ultimately left him destitute.
He previously said: “The dealer who introduced me to crack has more of my lottery money than I do.”
Michael’s wife Sandra left him just a month after their wedding in 2003 after being shocked by his incessant partying. She also accused him of cheating on her with sex workers and making off with £1.4 million in a settlement.
He spent time in prison for failing to comply with a drug treatment order and was declared bankrupt in February 2010 and claiming Jobseeker’s Allowance.
Michael was reportedly found working for £10 an hour chopping wood and delivering coal in 2019 after losing his entire fortune.
Surgery Queen
Jane Park became the youngest Briton ever to win the EuroMillions when she won the £1 million jackpot in 2013 at the age of 17.
At the time she won, she was a temporary worker earning £8 an hour, living in a two-bedroom flat in Edinburgh council that she shared with her mother Linda.
But things got worse when she felt ’empty’ after her win and spent £4.5k on a breast enlargement from 34B to 36FF and another couple of thousand on a Brazilian Butt Lift (BBL) in Turkey.
Jane feared for her life after suffering a severe reaction to anesthesia and contracting sepsis in 2017.
Two years later, she launched her OnlyFans to flash topless photos of herself, followed by more plastic surgery to get her ‘dream body’ with liposuction and a corrective BBL.
Now 28 and wiser, she believes winning the lottery cursed her life and wishes it never happened.
She hilariously calls herself the ‘B&M Molly-Mae’.
Love and loss
Gillian Bayford’s eight-year marriage was destroyed when she and ex-husband Adrian raised £148million at the EuroMillions in 2012.
Their lives changed overnight, putting so much strain on their relationship that it broke down completely 15 months after their victory.
Both Gillian, 50, and Adrian blamed the stress of their stunning victory for their split.
In the decade following their divorce, Gillian became a mother to another man at the age of 48, bought a £1.2 million mansion and started a property business.
“As far as [my daughter] worries I’m not a lottery winner, I’m just a mum,” Gillian told The Sun. “Some things are easier because of the money, but it doesn’t really change anything.
“You still have to change a diaper or deal with her being sick of you, no matter how much you’re worth.”