Tragic ending after lottery win that wasn't

BY JOJO MOYES and

MARIANNE MACDONALD

A father-of-two is thought to have committed suicide on Sunday after realising he had missed out on a £2m share of last weekend's National Lottery jackpot.

Tim O'Brien, 51, of Liverpool, picked the same numbers every week. It is believed he thought he had scooped a share of the £8m jackpot when those numbers finally came up - until he realised he had forgotten to renew his stake.

Last Sunday afternoon, neighbours heard a gunshot at his home. Mr O'Brien, an engineer, was found lying dead in the attic with a gun beside him.

It is understood that Mr O'Brien had bought, in advance, five weeks of Lottery tickets and would have shared a win as part of a "two person syndicate".

But though he had all six winning numbers - 14, 17, 22, 24, 42 and 47 - his batch of selections had expired on April Fool's day.

Merseyside Police were not looking for anyone else in connection with his death. and police sources said there were no other obvious reasons for Mr O'Brien's suicide.

Meanwhile, a jobless teenager described himself as "sick as a parrot" after pulling out of a national lottery syndicate a fortnight before it won the jackpot.

Kevin Hatcher, 18, from Kent, pulled out so he could save his 50p stake to spend on beer with his friends.

Paul Titchmarsh, a friend who agreed to take over his share, won £900,000 at the weekend as his share of the £2.7m scooped by the syndicate.

The winners are now contemplating buying new homes, cars and businesses while Mr Hatcher still struggles to find the price of a pint of beer.