Tragedy for ‘lotto lout’ Michael Carroll as sister he gave £1m to dies ‘from cocaine binge’
THE SISTER of “lotto lout” Michael Carroll has died, it has been revealed.
Zoe Carroll, 43, is thought to have suffered a fatal cardiac arrest – with reports tonight suggesting a “cocaine binge”.
Mum-of-four Zoe had been given £1million by her younger brother when he won almost £10million on the National Lottery as a 19-year-old in 2002.
Former binman Carroll was dubbed the “lotto lout” for his convicted criminal past and later behaviour which included throwing orgies and antagonising neighbours with noisy parties and demolition derbies.
But the latest tragedy follows a series of misfortunes for him and his family.
Carroll styled himself as the “King of Chavs” and enjoyed splashing plenty of his £9.7million lotto jackpot on Hummers and BMWs as well as cocaine-fuelled orgies.
Yet the Sun revealed in 2019 he became penniless again and was reduced to lugging logs about for £10 an hour.
The former binman, now 40, was engaged to Sandra Aitken – then seven months pregnant with daughter Brooke – when he bought the winning lottery ticket with his last £4 in 2002.
Michael wed Sandra in 2003 but she left soon after, disgusted by his lifestyle, accusing him of cheating on her with prostitutes and having “surrounded himself with hangers-on“.
Yet they remarried in 2021, with friends saying he had “calmed down a lot”.
But as well as his squandered fortune, family life was overshadowed by Carroll’s uncle Stephen Muncaster murdering his second wife Allison before turning the gun on himself in 2016.
It has now emerged Zoe died earlier this year in her two-bedroom terraced house in King’s Lynn, Norfolk, MailOnline reports.
An inquest has been told she was found there on May 4 – a week after last being seen by her mother Kim McCleary.
Her mother told friends on Facebook: “As a family we would like to thank you all for your public and private messages of condolences and support.”
Dina’s friend Ellie Skipper has set up a GoFundMe page aiming to raise £1,000 towards funeral costs.
She paid online tribute, saying: “This very sad news has upset us all as a community and will leave a big hole in everyone’s hearts due to the kind of person that Zoe was.
“You won’t ever meet anyone as kind, caring, funny, outspoken and true.
“She was the life and soul at events and parties – always pulling some sort of trick, prank or tape out of her bag.
“Zoe could lighten the mood in any situation and make you feel as though you’re on top of the world, she was so supportive.”
Ellie also described Zoe as “the best mother” to her four children, adding: “At this sad time, we wish them strength to stick together and be strong for one another.
“Not only was Zoe a mother, she was a daughter, a sister, a best friend to multiple people and she was friends with the whole town.
“It’s safe to say she will deeply be missed by everyone and her space will never be filled.”
One donor wrote: “You kids know how much I thought of your mum.
“She saw me through terrible times in my life. You have my number.”
A full inquest into Zoe’s death is expected to take place later this year.
Carroll was 18 months old when his RAF engineer father was sent to a military prison for 11 years after stabbing a couple at a dance.
His dad died when Carroll was ten.
After pocketing the lotto jackpot, Carroll racked up more than 30 court appearances in the following years – often turning up in bling jewellery and swigging lager.
His crimes included threatening youngsters with a baseball bat at a Christian singalong.
In 2005, he was given an Anti-Social Behaviour Order for causing thousands of pounds worth of damage during a drunken wrecking spree with a catapult.
Magistrates heard how he smashed 32 shop and car windows with ball-bearings fired from a Mercedes van emblazoned with the phrase “King of Chavs”.
That same year, his accountant wrote to tell him that he was down to his last £1million – before he was sentenced to nine months in prison in February 2006 for affray.
He put his ruined mansion in Swaffham, Norfolk, up for sale in February 2010, two years before being given a nine-month discharge by magistrates for stealing Strongbow ciders from a supermarket.
Carroll had spent £390,000 on his eight-bedroom mansion in 2002 and a further £200,000 on improvements including a swimming pool and a Jacuzzi – but ultimately sold it for £150,000.
At the height of his wealth he had also bought a holiday house in Spain which he decorated with more than 200 daggers and swords ordered from online catalogues.
His jobs since finding himself back on the dole have included working as a forklift driver in a biscuit factory and a five-year stint as a slaughter man in an abattoir.
After moving to a £500-a-month two-bedroom house in Elgin, Scotland, and working as a coalman he told the Sun in 2019: “Easy come, easy go.
“Going broke is the best thing that happened to me and, believe me, I had a great time doing it.
“People often say to me, what does it feel like to have lost all that money? I tell them I didn’t lose it – I spent it.”