Couple scoop record £45.5 million in lottery
By Sarah Kilcoyne
Les Scadding and his wife Samantha Peachey-Scadding, from Caerleon in South Wales, have jumped into joint first place in The National Lottery Rich List, after winning a staggering £45,570,835.50. They banked half of the jackpot in the EuroMillions draw last Friday, 6 November 2009.
Les (58) and Samantha (38) quietly celebrated with a Sunday lunch in their favourite restaurant, after learning of the win on Saturday evening. Les went to Tesco on Spytty Road in Newport, where he bought his Lucky Dip ticket, to buy some groceries on Saturday evening, and decided to check his EuroMillions ticket on the way out. He recalled, “When I asked the people behind the counter to check the numbers, the machine just printed out a pink slip, telling me to contact Camelot. I thought I might have won around £50,000, and I rushed home to tell Samantha.”
Les got back to the house, where Samantha was doing some work at her computer. She immediately went online to check their numbers, where it was revealed that two winners in the UK had shared over £90 million. Les said: “It was a very funny couple of minutes. We just looked at each other while it sunk in, before we got on the phone to Camelot.”
However, the couple took the staggering news in their stride, and on Sunday went for lunch at their favourite restaurant, The Priory, in Caerleon, with Samantha’s mother. Les said: “We always go to The Priory, as I know the owner really well, so we wouldn’t have gone anywhere different. We ordered a couple of bottles of Champagne and just had a quiet chat about it all, and tried to let it all sink in.”
Les, who has three grown-up children from his first marriage, is a qualified mechanic, but has worked for many years as a driver for various haulage companies. He is currently out of work, and had been looking for temporary driving contracts until Friday’s incredible win.
Samantha runs her own marketing company, and works from home. She said: “There is quite a lot of pressure involved in running your own business, and I’ve been working 12 hour days recently. This win means I can take my foot off the pedal and relax a bit.
“Les and I are lucky enough to already have been on quite a few holidays to Barbados, and I think we will definitely spend more time there now. We love it there”.
Les says his first purchase will probably be replacing his Citroen C5 with a Range Rover Sport. The couple also plan to move to a bigger house, but say they will probably stay in South Wales, as well as possibly buying a holiday home.
Les and Samantha are now joint first in The National Lottery Rich List ahead of two other EuroMillions winners; Glasgow postal worker Angela Kelly who won £35.4m on 10th August 2007 and Brian and Joan Caswell from Bolton who won £24.9million in June.
Les has played EuroMillions since its launch in 2004 and the winning ticket was a Lucky Dip bought from Tesco on the Spytty Road retail park in Newport. The store is the same store where Jenny Southall, from Newport bought her £8.3 million winning ticket in 2007. The winning EuroMillions numbers on Friday 6th November 2009 were 11, 19, 34, 43 and 45 and the Lucky Star numbers were 5 and 9.
This Wednesday, 11 November, there is a Lotto Double Rollover, with a jackpot of £11 million This Friday, 13 November, EuroMillions draw is an estimated £13 million. From this week every EuroMillions ticket will include the Millionaire Raffle game, where every week one lucky UK player will win £1 million – guaranteed.
Tags: Caerleon, Camelot, EuroMillions, Les Scadding, National Lottery, Samantha Peachey-Scadding, South Wales
