I was having to live on savings, says man in £3.6m Lotto win

Stuart Hunt, a 33-year-old roofer from Crawley, West Sussex, tore a ligament in his knee while playing football with his daughter 10 weeks ago and has been forced to live off his savings ever since.

The father of three school-age children, Mr Hunt and his girlfriend, Nicky Martin, 29, celebrated their £3,676,642 windfall from Saturday night’s draw by cracking open champagne – and said the money has come at just the right time.

“It’s been a Godsend really, hasn’t it? Unbelievable. I don’t know.

“Hopefully good things come in the future,” said Mr Hunt, who is still coming to terms with his new millionaire 
status.

“It’s still all overwhelming, to be honest. I don’t think it’s really going to sink in until maybe we do start spending some money,” he said.

Top of the wish-list for the couple is a family holiday and a flashy car – luxuries they could only have dreamed of in the past.

Mr Hunt said: “Just big massive family holidays and stuff like that – taking the girls somewhere that it might take you years and years to save up for, like to Florida... take the kids to Disney World.”He added: “I’d love a Range Rover Sport – a nice white one.

“There’s going to be so many opportunities out there now and things that we could never afford before.”

The couple, who have regular Lotto numbers, might have missed out on the win had they not sent Ms Martin’s sister to get the ticket for them with the numbers scribbled down on a piece of paper.

Ms Martin, a full-time mother, learned the life-changing news when she was out at the shop with her two youngest children on Sunday afternoon, and was informed at the till when her ticket was checked.

“I thought he was having me on. It was just a weird feeling,” she said. She rang her boyfriend and abandoned her shopping before rushing home.