We won £101m Euromillions jackpot… but it all came crashing down when our life fell apart
AFTER raking in a whopping £101m on the Euromillions jackpot, one couple’s lives fell apart.
In the ten years since their mammoth win, Dave and Angela Dawes have been hit by a court case and even a targeted house raid.
Britain’s seventh biggest winners at the time cashed in their prize in 2011, buying Tom Jones’ former home for £4m in East Sussex.
Shortly after their win, the couple said they planned to have their dream wedding – complete with a brand-new engagement ring.
The duo also planned to buy properties in London and abroad and book overseas holidays.
They splurged £4.5million on a flat in Fulham, West London just around the corner from Chelsea’s Stamford Bridge stadium – a real treat for football mad Dave.
The couple later swapped city life for the peace and quiet of the countryside in East Sussex.
But the couple’s luck turned, with court battles and dramatic home raids.
Family drama followed as Dave’s son Michael also took his dad and stepmother to court after they refused to stop coughing up for him to lunch at the Ritz.
Michael, 36, burned through £1million in weeks, and told a court that his father had promised to support him thanks to the lotto win.
Dave, who married Angela after scooping the EuroMillions jackpot, had given him the sum expecting it to “last for life”, a judge heard.
But he kept insisting his dad hand over more cash – he even ended up being given a further £600,000 from Dave.
However as soon as his son turned up for his step mum’s 49th birthday party without a present, Dave had had enough.
The couple argued they had splashed out £1.6million on Michael and his partner James in the two years after the win.
Dave was “baffled” when Michael asked for more funds in April 2012 despite being given a large chunk of the windfall.
Michael and James were bought a £500,000 on a house in Portsmouth and spent £250,000 on Mr Beedle’s family and their friends.
Richard Wilson QC insisted they had never led Michael to believe there was a “bottomless pit from which he could get money whenever he wanted”.
The judge told the Central London County Court: “The evidence is that Michael behaved extremely badly, demanding £5 million from his father, and also verbally abusing and bad-mouthing Angie.
“That was the final straw.”
Court case
Following the row Michael had sent an apologetic Fathers’ Day card to Dave – but the Euromillions winner was reluctant to hand over any more cash.
The court heard at one point Michael was spending around £20,000 to £30,000-a-month – with an “astonishing” £1,000 weekly grocery bill.
Michael had argued that he and his partner had been assured the money would keep rolling in and based a series of key life decisions on that assumption – including James, a former lieutenant in the Royal Navy Fleet Auxiliary, giving up his services career.
He said the money from his dad and stepmother had helped him with his mortgage, to buy a BMW and also to help out his own friends and his partner’s family.
Michael accused Dave and Angela of showing “arrogance and ungenerosity of spirit”.
He said: “My expectation was that this was an ongoing process, that there was more money coming in, and that this would be the process throughout my life”.
Michael explained the case was a “personal tragedy” for him, but he felt the row with his dad had been “essentially trivial”.
But the judge ultimately ruled in Dave’s favour.
Targeted raid
That’s not all, though.
The couple’s fortunes went from bad to worse after they were tied up and attacked by a burglary gang in their £4million Surrey home.
They were targeted by the robbers while in their Grade II luxury home in April last year – and were bound using cable ties.
Dave was hit in the face, and the gang fled with jewellery and around £20,000 cash in the couple’s Range Rover.
The car was found burnt out near to the mansion owned in the 1960s by Tom Jones and Engelbert Humperdinck after the raid.
Police said the investigation was scrapped due to a lack of evidence — and three men who were arrested were told they would face no further action.
Moving house
Following the harrowing ordeal, the couple moved out into a larger and more expensive mansion in Surrey in 2019.
But the couple later put the house on the market.
The amazing football-inspired home has gone up for sale for an eye-watering £9 million.
As an avid Chelsea fan, Dave had the pool decorated in the team’s honour, tiling their logo on the bottom of the indoor pool.
As well as the indoor pool, the property boasts eight bathrooms, five receptions, a large garage and a leisure complex.
Standing on 1.5 acres of land, the property boasts 13,000 square feet for prospective buyers to meander around.
And there is a massive 900 acres of natural woodland surrounding the property offering luxury and privacy for any potential owners.