Couple celebrate £45m lottery win

A young couple who won a lottery jackpot of more than £45 million have said there is a “lucky vibe” in Nottinghamshire after they became the second couple from the county to bank the prize in less than a month.

Cassey Carrington and Matt Topham, both 22 and from Stapleford in Nottingham, won the staggering total of £45,160,170.50 in the EuroMillions draw on Tuesday.

They follow hot on the heels of Mansfield husband and wife Gareth and Catherine Bull, who won £40,627,241 on the EuroMillions draw on January 20.

Miss Carrington told a press conference at The Derbyshire Hotel in South Normanton today: "I do think there is some sort of luck in Nottingham. I think we've got some lucky vibe going at the minute."

And like Mr and Mrs Bull, Miss Carrington and Mr Topham won their millions with a random Lucky Dip ticket.

Miss Carrington put their win - which makes them seventh in the list of the largest jackpots ever to be won in the UK - down to the good luck she felt after staff at her Iceland store in Eastwood, where she works as a supervisor, won a £10,000 prize to share.

"I just felt fairly lucky that day so from then on I just thought 'I feel a bit of luck' and normally I only play if I feel lucky.

"Having played not very often - I'd won £10 twice - so I thought 'seeing as I'm feeling a little bit lucky £10 will help us', so I decided to give it a go."

She set up her online account last Friday with £5 but did not win so used the remaining £3 to get a single Lotto line for Saturday and the line for Tuesday's EuroMillions draw, which turned out to be a winner.

But the day of their amazing win started out with a serious amount of bad luck when their washing machine and computer broke within minutes of each other, they said.

They have been together around three-and-a-half years and have been saving for their wedding in September after they got engaged in June last year.

Budgeting for a broken washing machine was not part of the plan, they said, so suddenly to be millionaires was a complete shock.

Miss Carrington and Mr Topham, who works as a painter and decorator in the family business run by his father, had to ring a friend in Stafford to read out the numbers for them so they could make sure it was not a joke.

But their first thought was not what they could spend on themselves, but how they could help their loved ones.

Mr Topham, who works with his father and brother, said he would be going back to work to help finish jobs and would like to see his own father finally taking a rest.

"My dad's always been in work," he said, "He's still got a mortgage now and he's 67 and it'd be so nice to get him out of work and pay off his mortgage, and let him relax."

Miss Carrington said she would like to buy her parents a house because they have always rented.

"I told them last night I was going to buy them a house and my dad just went completely silent, and didn't even dream that I'd spend any money on them but that was one of my first things. Just so that they've got that easier life."

Their wedding will now be the best it can, they said, but Miss Carrington said she would not be changing her engagement ring or her dress because they are so close to her heart.

And wasting the money was not a worry because they had worked hard for every penny so far and had to borrow money from Mr Topham's father to afford the deposit for their home.

"We were just doing what we could," Mr Topham said.

"We were going on a basis of we afford what we can when we can. We never wanted to get into any debt - we always said the only debt we ever wanted was a mortgage."

The couple would like to splash out on an Aston Martin car for Miss Carrington and because she had wanted to be an architect as a child, she would like to build her own home.

Mr Topham said he might go on an electrician's course now he can afford it just in case he "gets bored one day" and might also fulfil his childhood dream of becoming a pilot.

"I used to be in Air Training Corps and used to be able to fly gliders and propeller planes so I think I'll maybe go back to learning to fly or pilot helicopters and planes now I can afford it," he said.

But top of the list for now, the couple said, was a new computer and a new washing machine as their old one still has their damp clothes stuck inside.

PA