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Family celebrate £2.6m National Lottery win

Pa
Tuesday 14 September 2010 13:06 BST
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A couple spoke of their elation today at sharing in a £2.6 million Lotto jackpot in the week they celebrated their 40th wedding anniversary.

Philip Sawyer and his wife Sandra, who are splitting the win with their two grown-up daughters, now plan to buy a house and a new BMW.

Mr Sawyer, from Shard End, Birmingham, said he waited for an hour to wake his wife after realising his good fortune when he checked his ticket last Thursday.

The 60-year-old, a former car salesman, appeared at a press conference in Sutton Coldfield alongside his wife and two daughters, Amanda and Nicola.

Recalling the moment he realised his lucky dip ticket matched all six numbers in last Wednesday's draw, Mr Sawyer said: "I habitually get up at 7am and I made a cup of tea and then checked the lottery results.

"I thought I'd won £10 and then I realised that all six numbers were there - it was a very good feeling."

But Mr Sawyer kept to his wife's request not to be woken until 8am, opting to read a book before telling her they had scooped £2,606,914.

The Sawyers lived in Bishops Tawton, near Barnstaple, Devon, for more than 30 years before Mr and Mrs Sawyer moved to Birmingham to look after her elderly mother.

Both were full-time carers before Mrs Sawyer's mother died last year and then stayed in the Birmingham area.

Mr Sawyer, a Birmingham City fan, said it was a pleasure to inform his daughters, who are 38 and 39, that they had each won more than £651,000.

Amanda lives and works in Worcester and was at Alton Towers, while Nicola was working near her home in Teddington, south west London.

Their father told reporters: "I phoned Nicola asking her to call me when she finished work.

"She did and like her mother, she didn't believe me. It was only when she turned on Teletext that she knew it was true.

"Amanda didn't get back from Alton Towers until the early hours but she was coming around for lunch, so we waited until we saw her to tell her the good news."

Mrs Sawyer, 61, and her husband celebrated their ruby wedding with a round of crazy golf and a meal.

She described the lottery win as a "wonderful wedding anniversary present" and admitted that the size of the win was only sinking in slowly.

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