An office manager walked around with a £21million lottery ticket in her handbag for a week before she realised she and her husband had scooped the jackpot.
Donna and David Stickley, who became the National Lottery’s 5,000th millionaires, have said today that they ‘don’t do change’ and will keep on working despite their massive win.
Mrs Stickley, 48, revealed that the pair buy a lottery ticket every Friday night on their way to the pub.
The couple, who have been together for 20 years but married in March, were thinking about honeymooning in Hawaii but have since ruled it out after Kilauea erupted.
Mr Stickley said: ‘We’ve got to keep our feet firmly nailed to the ground.’
Donna and David Stickley, 48 and 58, from Slough became the National Lottery’s 5000th millionaires, it was revealed this morning. Pictured are the married couple celebrating their win in Windsor, Berkshire
The couple, who have no children, have been considering what to do next, but are keen to ensure Mr Stickley’s mother and Mrs Stickley’s father are looked after as a priority
Mrs Stickley added: ‘We’re absolutely going to keep working, I don’t do change. We want normality.’
The couple have played the same numbers every week and have only won small amounts in the past.
Mr Stickley said: ‘We will keep playing. We’ve probably paid out for £23m for tickets over the years!
‘We played the numbers every week, and we’ve been very lucky. Someone has to win it.’
After checking the ticket during a shopping trip last Saturday – a week after buying it – Mrs Stickley discovered they had won some money when she was told to call Camelot as the shop couldn’t pay out prizes over £500.
Harmeet Bhatia, who is a manager at Casco supermarket where they bought the winning ticket, told the MailOnline: ‘They’re my regular customers – but I don’t think I’ll be seeing them again!
‘Donna comes in every Friday, she comes in after work. I’m very excited for them, well done.
‘I’m very happy for them, well done to them.’
Mr Stickley, an aircraft re-fueller at Babcock International, said: ‘Last Saturday, my other half called me at work and all I could hear was lots of funny breathing down the phone, like something was wrong – she was all in a tizz.
‘She said she’d been told to contact Camelot by the shop because we had won some money. She said ‘I’ve checked on the internet and I think we may have won £2m but it just doesn’t look right’.
‘I told her to go and double check again as things like this don’t happen to people like us. She sent me a text with the amount on it from the internet but she had read the amount wrong – it wasn’t £2m, it was £21m!
Mr Stickley said Mrs Stickley wanted some new pots and pans when they got married which she hasn’t yet bought, so he joked he may put an extra ‘£10 towards them too’
Mrs Stickley, who works at engineering firm MacGregor Industries Limited (pictured) as an office manager, has said she will keep working despite the windfall
‘Not knowing what to do as I was in the middle of a shift, I called and told her to put it somewhere safe so we could deal with it later. I suggested maybe she could go shopping or do something to take her mind off it – she was all over the place and I thought it may distract her until I finished work and we could decide what to do next!
‘The rest is history.’
Now Mrs Stickley, who works at engineering firm MacGregor Industries Limited as an office manager, says she will use the winnings to buy a new handbag – and get the old one framed.
The couple, who have no children, have been considering what to do next, but are keen to ensure Mr Stickley’s mother and Mrs Stickley’s father are looked after as a priority, as they are not in the best of health.
Mrs Stickley said: ‘As you would expect, some things have had to be put to one side while we take time to look after our elderly mum and dad. We’ve always said to them whatever care they need we will find the money, so this makes the situation even more manageable.’
As well as looking after those close to them they plan to go on a beach holiday quite soon to relax and work out what they want to do next.
Mr Stickley said he was considering buying a new car but could not face writing a check for something as expensive as an Audi R8 or a Ferrari.
The couple have no plans to move house from Slough (pictured) just yet as Mr Stickley said: ‘We are having the house redecorated in June so that will go ahead first’
After checking the ticket during a shopping trip last Saturday – a week after buying it – Mrs Stickley discovered they had won some money when she was told to call Camelot
As well as looking after those close to them, the 5000th National Lottery millionaires, plan to go on a beach holiday quite soon to relax and work out what they want to do next
Mr Stickley said Mrs Stickley wanted some new pots and pans when they got married which she hasn’t yet bought, so he joked he may put an extra ‘£10 towards them too.’
However, they have no plans to move house from Slough just yet.
Mr Stickley said: ‘We are having the house redecorated in June so that will go ahead first. Do you know how hard it is to find a good decorator that can paint a straight line. We’ve just found one so that has to go ahead!’
Talking about their win, he added: ‘We intend to celebrate in style – we will do something we aren’t ever going to forget as this is an unbelievable time for us both.’
One nearby resident, who did not want to be named, said: ‘Good for them! I’ve known David for a while as a neighbour and he’s a nice guy.
‘It’s a lot of money, I imagine they’ll be going somewhere nice to celebrate.
‘They’ve probably lived here for about 20 years. It’s quite neighbourly around here but we aren’t about to have any street parties or anything.’
The couple bought their winning ticket from Casco Supermarket in Slough and the winning Lotto numbers from the draw on May were 1, 15, 21, 30, 35 and 44.
The National Lottery has made 5,000 millionaires across all of its games since launching in 1994. Those lucky 5,000 have won a combined total of £13.3 billion out of the £65 billion won by National Lottery players to date.
Last month one lucky Brit won £121million on the EuroMillions, but they have chosen to stay anonymous.
The win was the third-biggest in the UK.
A Camelot spokesperson, who run the lottery, said: ‘Under its licence to operate The National Lottery, Camelot has a duty of care to protect the anonymity of all National Lottery winners.
Last year it was revealed that Gareth and Catherine Bull (pictured), who pocketed a cool £40.6million EuroMillions jackpot in 2012, are leading separate lives
The lottery curse has hit plenty of couples, with Adrian and Gillian Bayford, who won £148million in 2012, splitting just a year after winning the lottery
‘Therefore no further details will be released about this ticket-holder’s claim.’
The prize was the second EuroMillions jackpot winner in 2018 following a ticket-holder who won £77m in February.
Andy Carter, Senior Winners’ Advisor at The National Lottery, said: ‘It is great to be able to help this ticket-holder celebrate their amazing life-changing prize.
‘They are the third biggest winner this country has ever seen and we will now support them as they begin to enjoy their stunning win.’
Some winners have experienced the lottery ‘curse’, with many couples splitting up after taking home the winnings.
Last year it was revealed that Gareth and Catherine Bull, who pocketed a cool £40.6million EuroMillions jackpot in 2012, are leading separate lives.
Builder Gareth, is now living in a three-bedroom cottage just over a mile away from the family home and the couple are no longer Facebook friends, a sure sign of a relationship in crisis.
Les and Samantha Scadding, who scooped £45.5million in 2009, divorced in 2013
Les and Samantha Scadding, who scooped £45.5million in 2009, divorced in 2013 and Adrian and Gillian Bayford, who won £148million in 2012, split just a year later.
Gillian Bayford also admitted that last year that she has not spoken to her ‘greedy’ family for nearly a year, despite giving them £20million after the windfall.
She claims her mother, father and brother – who all live in plush houses and drive flash cars thanks to her fortune – ‘disowned’ her last May, but still expect her to bail them out when they need money.
Elsewhere, Jason and Victoria Jones had been married for only a month when they scooped £2.3million on the lottery in 2004.
However, the pair announced they were to divorce in August last year after Mrs Jones met a businessman one hundred times richer than her husband.
Jane Park, the youngest ever EuroMillions winner at 17, once considered legal action against Camelot, saying her life would have been ’10 times better’ had she not won £1million
Jane Park, the youngest ever EuroMillions winner at 17, once considered legal action against Camelot, saying her life would have been ’10 times better’ had she not won £1million.
Now 21, she has since retracted the comments, saying: ‘I feel like I have been listened to now and people are actually listening to the difficulties.’
After collecting her prize, she splashed out on 34FF breasts and designer clothes but hasn’t found life in the public eye easy, with angry rants on social media commonplace.
Norfolk lottery winner Micheal Carroll declared himself the self-styled ‘King of Chavs’ when he won nearly £10million on the lottery in 2003. Despite his sudden vast wealth, Carroll soon began frittering it away on drugs and gambling.
He was given an ASBO for anti-social behaviour towards his parents and was eventually jailed in 2004 for cocaine possession. He served a further nine months for affray in 2009.
By 2010, he’d lost all of his fortune and was declared bankrupt. He returned to his job as a binman.
He said at the time: ‘The party has ended and it’s back to reality. I haven’t got two pennies to rub together and that’s the way I like it. I find it easier to live off £42 dole than a million.’
Who is the biggest ever UK lottery winner? Two couples and a former car mechanic top list
Here are the six previous biggest UK winners of the EuroMillions draw so far
1. In July 2011, Colin and Chris Weir became Europe’s biggest lottery winners when they scooped more than £161million.
The couple, who have been married for 30 years, said they were ‘not scared’ of the wealth because they were going to have ‘so much fun’ with the money.
The pair, a retired TV cameraman and a retired psychiatric nurse, from Largs, in Ayrshire, said their children Carly, a photography student, and Jamie, a call centre worker, would be bought their own homes and cars.
The family made a £1million donation to the SNP shortly after winning.
Colin and Chris Weir became Europe’s biggest lottery winners when they scooped more than £161million in 2011
2. Adrian and Gillian Bayford, from Suffolk, took home more than £148 million in August 2012.
The marriage ended just 15 months into their new jackpot winning lives, citing the stress of the money as the reason they needed to split.
At the time, a spokesman for Mrs Bayford said: ‘Gillian Bayford confirms that her marriage to Adrian has broken down irretrievably and they have separated.’
It came after Mrs Bayford was forced to deny she had an affair with the couple’s gardener, Chris Tovey.
Adrian and Gillian Bayford, from Suffolk, took home more than £148 million in August 2012
3. An unnamed ticket-holder claimed just over £113million in October 2010, and chose not go public.
4. Neil Trotter, from south London, won nearly £108million, going from former car mechanic to multimillionaire in March 2014.
Neighbours in Croydon described he and partner Nicky Ottaway moved out ‘almost overnight’ after they scooped the EuroMillions jackpot last March.
Mr Trotter admitted at the time that he was like his namesake, Del Boy Trotter from Only Fools And Horses.
Neil Trotter, with partner Nicky Ottaway, won nearly £108million, going from former car mechanic to multimillionaire in March 2014
5. A couple from Cambridgeshire, Dave and Angela Dawes, won more than £101million on their third go on the EuroMillions draw in October 2011.
Mr Dawes said he ‘didn’t sleep a wink’ the night of the win, as it was too late to call Camelot after the couple checked their numbers.
Last year, the couple were taken to court by his son, an Afghanistan veteran, Michael Dawes, 32, who said he was ‘ungenerous in spirit’.
But a judge ruled the millionaire father does not need to keep bailing out his son, who burnt through £1.6million in two years, and came back for more, failing to heed his stepmother’s advice to stop eating at the Ritz and go to McDonald’s instead.
6. A UK winner got a £93 million payout in June 2015, but decided to remain anonymous.
Dave and Angela Dawes won more than £101million on their third go on the EuroMillions draw in October 2011