A MAN who won a £3.6million National Lottery jackpot says his life has only gone downhill after he fell foul of a small print rule.
Kirk Stevens and his partner Laura Hoyle scooped £10,000 a month for 30 years in a Set For Life draw.
3
3
But just a year after the lucky win in 2021, Laura dumped Steven and took all the winnings.
Laura, 40, moved alone into the £500,000 mansion the couple had planned to share.
She was able toclaim the jackpotafter the split as the winning ticket had been bought using her card.
The small print rule meant Kirk, 39, was left with nothing in a brutal reversal of fortune.
READ MORE NATIONAL LOTTERY
Kirk told The Sun: "Laura had told me we’d live the life of Riley if we won."
He added: "People used to ask me why I never quit my job as an engineer.
We had plans for the future - we were going to buy properties together
Kirk Stevens
"I liked having a sense of purpose, something to get up for each morning.
"But it was more than that. The truth was, I never felt secure enough with Laura to give up my job.
Most read in Money
BITTER BLOW Blow to drinkers as eye-watering price a pint of beer will hit by 2040 revealed
LAST ORDERS Major update on Wetherspoons closure plans as another pub goes on the market
BARGAIN BUY Dunelm shoppers go wild for homeware essential scanning at £9 instead of £35
"I could feel her pulling away from me - and things went from bad to worse."
Kirk told how he had let Laura live in his three-bedroom home rent-free if she paid £25-a-week intolottoon their behalf.
I was told I was too late to claim win but days later I had £111k for just £12
After landing the Set for Life prize in March 2021, Laura quit her job and the pair bought aPorsche Cayenne.
They also used the winnings to pay for Kirk’s post-grad engineering degree.
He said: "We had plans for the future. We were going to buy properties together and build an empire."
But their relationship fell apart in 2022, just 16 months after their win.
Curse of lotto winners
Despite hitting the jackpot, countless UK lotto winners have sufferedastonishing tragedies and lost their fortunes.
Callie Rogers
Callie became Britain’s youngest lottery winner when she won £1.9million in 2003.
The 16-year-old from Cumbria gave up her £3.60-an-hour checkout job and went on a spending spree, purchasing a £180,000 bungalow and a £76,000 home for her mum.
But she ultimatelyblew thousandson wild parties, three boob jobs and drugs, plus around £300,000 on designer clothes.
Eighteen years after her win, Callie was found to be claimingUniversal Creditafter blowing her fortune.
Michael Carrol
The self-styled ‘King of Chavs’ was 19 when he scooped £9,736,131 on the National Lottery in November 2002.
The part-time binman, who was wearing an electronic tag when he bought his winning ticket,immediately bought a £340,000 six-bedroom home in Norfolk.
He spent a further £400,000 on lavish home upgrades and dropped £49,000 on a BMW to park in his drive. He most notably invested £1million in Rangers FC shares.
Michael’s wife, Sandra, left him over his incessant party boy lifestyle and took £1.4million from the divorce settlement. By 2010, he had declared bankruptcy.
Roger Griffiths
Griffiths and his wife Lara netted £1.8million on the National Lottery in 2005.
Quitting their day jobs, the couple enjoyed expensive holidays and luxury motors and also splashed £800,000 on a barn conversion in Wetherby, West Yorks.
After wannabe rock star Roger spent £25,000 making a music record, the couple divested into safer assets but the global financial crisis hit and rendered them worthless.
In 2010, their uninsured home tragically went up in flames - and all their funds dried up three years later.
Lee Ryan
Ex-jailbirdRyan scooped the £6.5million jackpot just 17 weeks after the lottery was launchedin 1994.
It later emerged he was accused of handling stolen cars and was imprisoned for 18 months after his huge payout.
Once released he spent a decade enjoying his riches, even buying a helicopter and a £2million mansion but ultimately ended up penniless.
Lee was dealt his final blow when he took an ill-fated trip to Kyrgyzstan and invested the last of his winnings in property, which failed due to an economic crisis.
Gillian and Adrian Bayford
The loving couple’s lives changed overnight in 2012 when they scooped a staggering £148million.
But just 15 months after the win, their eight-year marriage ended with both parties partly blaming stress on their mind-boggling win.
Adrian shacked up with ex-horse groomer Samantha Burbidge, who ended up bolting with his money, 30 horses, a horse box, and a car he gifted her.
Gillian was convicted of attacking her ex-lover Gavin Innes. She then moved on and started dating fraudster Brian Deans, who ended up in jail, and last made the headlines in 2021 for claiming nearly £40,000 in furlough cash.
Margaret Loughrey
Margaret scooped £27million in 2013 and became Northern Ireland's biggest winner at the time.
However, the 48-year-old later admitted the huge fortune didn't bring her any happiness.
She told local media: "Money has brought me nothing but grief. It has destroyed my life."
Tragically, in September last year, Margaret, by now in her 50s, wasfound dead in her home.
Martyn and Kay Tott
The Totts got the shock of their lives when they realised they'd won £3million back in 2001 – six months after buying the ticket.
By the time they saw an appeal for the winner to come forward, they couldn't find the ticket.
Computer records in their local Londis proved Kay really had purchased the ticket.
But a little-known rule stipulating that lost tickets must be reported within 30 days meant they would never receive the cash – eventually putting too much strain on their marriage and causing it to break down.
Kirk said: “I wanted to try to fix it but Laura wasn’t interested. It was like the money gave her confidence to throw it all away.
"When it became clear we were not going to work things out, I asked her: ‘What about our Lottery win?’ She said, ‘It’s not ours, it’s mine’."
The pair used to share videos of their spooky adventures on theirYouTubechannel, ‘K & L Ghost Hunters’.
I wanted to try to fix it but Laura wasn’t interested
Kirk Stevens
Since their split, Kirk has documented his solo paranormal pursuits on ‘Ghost Hunter Kirk’, which has around 6,000 subscribers.
Laura made it “very clear” to Kirk at the time that the money was hers and hers alone.
READ MORE SUN STORIES
She said the £1,000 she had previously been paying him every month was “rent” and not a share of the winnings.
Kirk said: "I just want ten per cent. If she continues to pay me £1,000 a month, I’ll happily walk away. She won’t even notice it."
Everything you need to know about Lottery and EuroMillions
- What happens to the EuroMillions prize money if no one claims it?
- Who are the biggest UK EuroMillions winners ever?
- Who is Britain's youngest Lottery winner Callie Rodgers?
- How many times can the EuroMillions jackpot rollover?
- Which is the easiest Lottery to win?
- What are the odds of winning the EuroMillions jackpot?
- What happens when you win the Euromillions lottery?
- What are the biggest lottery jackpots in the world?
- Horoscope luck: Which star sign is most likely to win the lottery?
3
