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£45m lotto winner toasts with roast

Press Association
Tuesday 10 November 2009 12:11 GMT
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The couple who scooped £45.5 million in the Euromillions jackpot today told how they celebrated with a traditional Sunday lunch washed down with a couple of bottles of champagne at their local restaurant.

Les Scadding, 58, and his wife Samantha Peachey-Scadding, 38, from Caerleon, South Wales, could hardly believe their luck and had to double check their winning ticket.

Mr Scadding said: "When I asked the people behind the counter to check the numbers the machine just printed out a pink slip telling me to contact Camelot.

"I thought I might have won around £50,000 and I rushed home to tell Samantha."

After frantic double checking online, he said: "It was a very funny couple of minutes. We just looked at each other while it sunk in before we got on the phone to Camelot."

They are thought to be the seventh set of lottery millionaires to come from Gwent in the last three years.

A group of IT workers from Liverpool were also celebrating their share of Friday's night whopping £91 million jackpot.

Mr Scadding discovered that he and his wife had won the jackpot after going to a Tesco supermarket in Newport, South Wales, on Saturday evening to buy some groceries.

He decided to check his Euromillions ticket on the way out of the store, at which point he was told to contact Lottery operator Camelot.

Taking the news in their stride, the couple decided to celebrate over Sunday lunch with Mrs Peachey-Scadding's mother in their favourite restaurant, The Priory in Caerleon.

Mr Scadding said: "We always go to The Priory, as I know the owner really well, so we wouldn't have gone anywhere different.

"We ordered a couple of bottles of champagne and just had a quiet chat about it all, and tried to let it all sink in."

Mr Scadding, who has three grown-up children from his first marriage, is a qualified mechanic but has worked for many years as a driver.

He is currently out of work, and had been looking for temporary driving contracts until his incredible win on Friday.

His wife runs her own marketing company from home.

She said: "There is quite a lot of pressure involved in running your own business, and I've been working 12-hour days recently. This win means I can take my foot off the pedal and relax a bit."

Mr Scadding said his first purchase would probably be to replace his Citroen C5 with a Range Rover Sport.

The couple plan to move to a bigger house, but say they will probably stay in South Wales, although they may also buy a holiday home.

They also intend to splash out on holidays in Barbados.

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