We won the lottery but blew it all on cocaine, surgery & fairweather friends – the curse of hitting the mega jackpot
MANY of us dream of winning big on the lottery but what about if you actually do?
Surely it’s all flash cars and glam photoshoots, and maybe the odd film premiere?
That wasn’t the case for this bunch, who – despite scooping millions of pounds – found themselves down in the dumps.
Far from being happy at becoming overnight multi-millionaires, the sudden change to their bank balance caused trouble and strife.
Who can forget self-styled ‘King Of Chavs’ Michael Carroll wearing an electronic ankle tag as he scooped £9.7 million on the National Lottery in 2002 – only to later blow £2k a day on cocaine?
Or the Bayfords – a couple whose mammoth win drove them to divorce?
Here, Fabulous reveals some of the UK’s most ill-fated lottery winners.
Fairweather Friends
Callie Rogers made headlines when she became Britain’s youngest ever lottery winner at just 16, scooping £1.9 million in 2003.
She gave up her £3.60-an-hour checkout job and set about splashing the cash on designer clothes, three boob jobs and wild parties.
The teen also gave away £500k of her winnings to family and friends but soon realised some were just using her, leaving her with “trust issues”.
Callie, 36, described winning the lottery as a “curse” which drove her to sadly attempt suicide. She was fortunately saved by her mum who found her and took her to hospital.
Now a mum-of-four and studying to become a nurse at The University of Central Lancashire, Callie has turned a corner after going to trial in December 2020 after crashing her car while on cocaine.
She declared herself bankrupt in 2021 and now rents a home in Cumbria.
We’re so pleased Callie appears to have found happiness.
Cocaine King
The self-styled King Of Chavs Michael Carroll was wearing an electronic ankle tag when he scooped £9.7 million on the National Lottery in 2002.
He was aged 19 at the time and splurged his fortune on a six-bedroom mansion in Norfolk, which he kitted out with a swimming pool and car racing track.
Michael’s drug addiction saw him spending £2k a day on cocaine and eventually left him penniless.
He previously said: “The dealer who introduced me to crack has more of my lotto money than I do.”
Michael’s wife Sandra left him just a month after their wedding in 2003 after being appalled by his incessant partying. She also accused him of cheating on her with sex workers, walking away with £1.4million in a settlement.
He suffered a stint in jail for failing to comply with a drug treatment order and by February 2010 was declared bankrupt and claiming Jobseekers’ Allowance.
Michael was reportedly found working for £10 an hour chopping wood and delivering coal in 2019 after he lost his entire fortune.
Surgery Queen
Jane Park was the youngest ever Brit to win the EuroMillions when she scooped the £1 million jackpot aged 17 in 2013.
At the time of her win, she was an admin temp earning £8-an-hour, and was living in a two-bedroom Edinburgh council flat she shared with her mum Linda.
But things took a turn for the worse when she felt “empty” after her win and splurged £4.5k on a boob job 34B to 36FF and another few thousand on a deadly Brazilian Butt Lift (BBL) in Turkey.
Jane was left fearing for her life after having a severe reaction to the anaesthetic and contracting sepsis back in 2017.
Two years later, she launched her OnlyFans to flog topless pictures 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 she wishes it never happened.
Hilariously, she refers to herself as the ‘B&M Molly-Mae’.
A Heartbreaking Win
Margaret Loughrey bagged £27 million in the EuroMillions but did not have much time to enjoy her fortune.
She died aged 56, nearly eight years after her win in 2013.
A year after scooping the colossal sum of money, Margaret was sectioned at Derry’s Gransha Hospital after being told she was “a danger to herself and others”.
She splashed out on a mansion named The Barn and renovated it, adding a showroom on the grounds for her classic car collection.
Tragically, Margaret never lived in The Barn and was found dead at a tiny £130k bungalow in Co Tyrone, Northern Ireland in September 2021.
“I regret winning the lottery, of course I do,” Margaret once said. “I was a happy person before. I am a human being and all it has done is destroy my life.”
Love and Loss
Gillian Bayford’s eight-year marriage was destroyed when she and ex-husband Adrian scooped £148 million on the EuroMillions in 2012.
Their lives changed overnight and put so much strain on their relationship, it totally broke down 15 months after their win.
Both Gillian, 50, and Adrian blamed the stress from their mind-boggling win as the root cause of their divorce.
In the decade following their divorce, Gillian became a mum at 48-years-old with another man, purchased a £1.2 million mansion and started a property business.
“As far as [my daughter] is concerned I’m not a lottery winner, I’m just 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 nappy or deal with her being sick on you regardless of how much you’re worth.”
Homeless and Cursed
Ex-jailbird Lee Ryan scooped the £6.5million jackpot just 17 weeks after the lottery was launched on November 14 1994.
He made headlines when it emerged he was accused of handling stolen cars and was imprisoned for 18 months after his huge payout – making him the first British lotto winner to do time.
Lee then spent a decade living the high life and splashed his winnings on luxury cars, a helicopter and a £2 million mansion.
But Lee ended up penniless, spent two years living on the street and shacked up in a tiny flat in London he shared with homeless pals.
“The money was cursed because I took the p**s out of God when I asked him to make me a multimillionaire,” he said. “My cellmate warned me to be careful what I wished for.”
Lee now works as a painter and decorator in to make ends meet, and his currently renovating a home in Chiswick.
You're Not Alone
EVERY 90 minutes in the UK a life is lost to suicide.
It doesn’t discriminate, touching the lives of people in every corner of society – from the homeless and unemployed to builders and doctors, reality stars and footballers.
It’s the biggest killer of people under the age of 35, more deadly than cancer and car crashes.
And men are three times more likely to take their own life than women.
Yet it’s rarely spoken of, a taboo that threatens to continue its deadly rampage unless we all stop and take notice, now.
That is why The Sun launched the You’re Not Alone campaign.
The aim is that by sharing practical advice, raising awareness and breaking down the barriers people face when talking about their mental health, we can all do our bit to help save lives.
Let’s all vow to ask for help when we need it, and listen out for others… You’re Not Alone.
If you, or anyone you know, needs help dealing with mental health problems, the following organisations provide support:
- CALM, www.thecalmzone.net, 0800 585 858
- Heads Together, www.headstogether.org.uk
- Mind, www.mind.org.uk, 0300 123 3393
- Papyrus, www.papyrus-uk.org, 0800 068 41 41
- Samaritans, www.samaritans.org, 116 123
- Movember, www.uk.movember.com
- Anxiety UK www.anxietyuk.org.uk, 03444 775 774 Monday-Friday 9.30am-10pm, Saturday/Sunday 10am-8pm