A DINNER lady has told how she still lives in a council house and refuses to give her son pocket money despite her £1.8million lotto win.
Trish Emson, from South Yorkshire, doesn’t live a lavish lifestyle despite bagging the major prize.
Trish Emson with her partner Graham Norton outside their council houseMirrorpix
Trish revealed she never gave her son pocket moneyMirrorpix
Trish and her partner Graham Norton pocketed a huge windfall but still chose to keep a modest life in their council house.
Speaking in 2021, 18 years after their win, the mum said: “Being rich doesn’t make you posh or a better person.
“I don’t like showing off and bragging about money and I can’t be posh anyway.
“To look at me you wouldn’t think I was a millionaire, but if I have to dress up I feel fake, I prefer my jeans,” she told The Mirror.
Despite the newfound wealth, Trish and Graham opt for practical buys instead of extravagant items.
Trish added: “We’ve been careful. I don’t buy flash cars, I’ve got a Kia and I still shop in Primark. The best thing we bought was the caravan in Cleethorpes.
“It’s a big un! Actually, I’ve got two now. I bought one for my family and friends, for when they come down.”
The millionaire couple admitted they don’t even give their young son pocket money.
“He doesn’t even get pocket money,” Trish explained.
“But he does put things in my Amazon basket, although if he’s being cheeky and there’s something for £100, I say, ‘I don’t think so!’
“He went to a normal school, I didn’t send him to a private one because sometimes they can be a bit stuck up and we wanted to keep him with his friends.”
But she still enjoys spoiling her loved ones in moderation.
Trish admitted she splashed the cash on a few treats – including sun-kissed holidays to Benalmádena, Benidorm, and Ibiza.
LIFE-CHANGING WIN
The couple’s life changed forever when Graham realised they had hit the jackpot in October 2003.
Trish recalled: “My other half put the numbers up on the telly.
“I walked to the shop and passed my ticket over and he said, ‘I can’t give you that. You’ve got the jackpot, you jammy b****r’.”
While she awaited her winnings after calling Camelot, she hid the winning ticket – but feared it could go up in flames.
To look at me you wouldn’t think I was a millionaire, but if I have to dress up I feel fake, I prefer my jeans
Trish Emson
“I put the ticket in the bottom drawer, but we were worried as my mother-in-law, who lived with us, had burnt the kitchen down the week before,” she said.
“We’d put some meat in and asked her to put the oven on at a certain time, but she put the grill on instead. We had the fire brigade out.
“All the walls were black but the joint was cooked well. The ticket was in the drawer and we had images of it going up in flames.”
Trish continues to work as a dinner lady at her local primary school despite the windfall.
The mum said: “I’d be bored to tears without it and I love the kids, they cheer me up every day.”
Curse of lotto winners
Despite hitting the jackpot, countless UK lotto winners have suffered astonishing tragedies and lost their fortunes.
Callie Rogers
Callie became Britain’s youngest lottery winner when she won £1.9million in 2003.
The 16-year-old from Cumbria gave up her £3.60-an-hour checkout job and went on a spending spree, purchasing a £180,000 bungalow and a £76,000 home for her mum.
But she ultimately blew thousands on wild parties, three boob jobs and drugs, plus around £300,000 on designer clothes.
Eighteen years after her win, Callie was found to be claiming Universal Credit after blowing her fortune.
Michael Carrol
The self-styled ‘King of Chavs’ was 19 when he scooped £9,736,131 on the National Lottery in November 2002.
The part-time binman, who was wearing an electronic tag when he bought his winning ticket, immediately bought a £340,000 six-bedroom home in Norfolk.
He spent a further £400,000 on lavish home upgrades and dropped £49,000 on a BMW to park in his drive. He most notably invested £1million in Rangers FC shares.
Michael’s wife, Sandra, left him over his incessant party boy lifestyle and took £1.4million from the divorce settlement. By 2010, he had declared bankruptcy.
Roger Griffiths
Griffiths and his wife Lara netted £1.8million on the National Lottery in 2005.
Quitting their day jobs, the couple enjoyed expensive holidays and luxury motors and also splashed £800,000 on a barn conversion in Wetherby, West Yorks.
After wannabe rock star Roger spent £25,000 making a music record, the couple divested into safer assets but the global financial crisis hit and rendered them worthless.
In 2010, their uninsured home tragically went up in flames – and all their funds dried up three years later.
Lee Ryan
Ex-jailbird Ryan scooped the £6.5million jackpot just 17 weeks after the lottery was launched in 1994.
It later emerged he was accused of handling stolen cars and was imprisoned for 18 months after his huge payout.
Once released he spent a decade enjoying his riches, even buying a helicopter and a £2million mansion but ultimately ended up penniless.
Lee was dealt his final blow when he took an ill-fated trip to Kyrgyzstan and invested the last of his winnings in property, which failed due to an economic crisis.
Gillian and Adrian Bayford
The loving couple’s lives changed overnight in 2012 when they scooped a staggering £148million.
But just 15 months after the win, their eight-year marriage ended with both parties partly blaming stress on their mind-boggling win.
Adrian shacked up with ex-horse groomer Samantha Burbidge, who ended up bolting with his money, 30 horses, a horse box, and a car he gifted her.
Gillian was convicted of attacking her ex-lover Gavin Innes. She then moved on and started dating fraudster Brian Deans, who ended up in jail, and last made the headlines in 2021 for claiming nearly £40,000 in furlough cash.
Margaret Loughrey
Margaret scooped £27million in 2013 and became Northern Ireland’s biggest winner at the time.
However, the 48-year-old later admitted the huge fortune didn’t bring her any happiness.
She told local media: “Money has brought me nothing but grief. It has destroyed my life.”
Tragically, in September last year, Margaret, by now in her 50s, was found dead in her home.
Martyn and Kay Tott
The Totts got the shock of their lives when they realised they’d won £3million back in 2001 – six months after buying the ticket.
By the time they saw an appeal for the winner to come forward, they couldn’t find the ticket.
Computer records in their local Londis proved Kay really had purchased the ticket.
But a little-known rule stipulating that lost tickets must be reported within 30 days meant they would never receive the cash – eventually putting too much strain on their marriage and causing it to break down.