The ManicaPost
A builder and his shop assistant wife have today been named as the winners of the £105 million EuroMillions jackpot.
Self-employed Steve Thomson (42) and his wife Lenka (41) from Selsey in West Sussex, have become the ninth-biggest winners in the history of the National Lottery.
Mrs Thomson, who is originally from Slovakia, works in a Premier newsagents and met her husband while working at a campsite 17 years ago, tying the knot four years later.
They currently live in a £120 000 terraced house but now plan to buy a new home so that their two sons aged 10 and 15, and their daughter, eight, can each have their own bedroom — making their living conditions, “a bit more harmonious’”
Their 10-year-old son has already asked for a Tesla car, while their eight-year-old daughter has asked for a pink iPhone. Mr Thomson, who has been playing the lottery regularly for 25 years, has promised to help the local community and complete all his outstanding jobs before Christmas.
He told customers: “Don’t worry, I’ll hold to it and get all my jobs done!”
The couple, who met at the Bunn Leisure campsite at Warner Farm, Selsey, are now wealthier than singer Harry Styles and Harry Potter stars Daniel Radcliffe and Emma Watson.
Mr Thomson only realised he had won as he waited to be picked up for work three days after the draw was made.
He said: “I am not sure I even looked at the first two lines, the third one just jumped out and I could instantly tell they all matched. I started shaking a lot. I knew it was a really big win but didn’t know what to do.
“I went out to my van, walked back in, thought about knocking on a neighbour’s door, went back to the van — I think I was on the verge of having a heart attack.”
He said his parents refused to believe he had scooped the jackpot, telling him: “We’ll believe it when we see it.”
Mr Thomson said today: “Now they believe it.”
Mrs Thomson asked her husband for a Christmas holiday when she thought they had won £105 000 — before learning she was a millionaire.
She said the money would make their annual trips to Slovakia to visit her family, “a lot more affordable”.
She added: “Our annual holiday has always been to see my family in Slovakia and each year we start saving for the next one as soon as we come home.
“Not only can I treat my family and see them more often, but we can also look to have other holidays, perhaps somewhere hot with a beach.”
Mr Thomson added: “Everyone is going to have a good Christmas.” — Daily Mail.
