A MULTIMILLIONAIRE lottery winner’s life spiralled into tragedy after bagging the colossal win.
Keith Gough thought the only way was up after he could wave goodbye to his job as a baker and settle into a luxurious retirement.
2
The Shropshire man, from Bridgnorth, quickly shelled out cash on a high-end BMW, a fleet of racehorses and even a VIP box from which he could watch Aston Villa games.
But, disaster struck just two years after his windfall, in 2005, when “boredom” plunged Keith into a downwards spiral.
He soon developed a nasty alcohol addiction and began binge drinking to kill the time.
As he tried to piece his life back together, the lotto winner admitted himself into a Birmingham rehab facility called the Priory.
However. wife Louise threw in the towel on their marriage shortly afterwards.
The bitter separation, after 27 years, left the former baker feeling he had “ruined” his life.
However, it didn’t hold him back for long and he decided to move into a £1million Cheshire mansion.
It came complete with a personal driver and gardener but there was yet more tragedy waiting around the corner.
Most read in Money
Keith frittered away thousands on gambling and lost an eye-watering £700,000 fraudulent business schemes.
He had met a conman named James Prince in rehab, who later convinced him to invest in the bogus companies.
Prince admitted money laundering and fraud in 2009 and was jailed for three years and four months.
Speaking in an interview in 2009, Keith said: “Without routine in my life I started to spend, spend, spend. In the end I was just bored.
“Before the win all I would drink was some wine with a meal. I used to be popular but I’ve driven away all my friends. I don’t trust anyone any more.
“When I see someone going in to a newsagent, I advise them not to buy a lottery ticket.”
Keith sadly passed away at the Princess Royal hospital in Telford the following year from a suspected heart attack.
John Homer, who owned the newsagents where the tragic winner bought his fateful ticket, told The Guardian: “It was a Wednesday and a rollover from the previous Saturday. It all went downhill from there. He and his wife split.
“He did have a drink problem and it got progressively worse.
“It’s very sad because it should have made him a very happy man, but he didn’t get the best out of it.
“You never expected any sorrow or problems, but he must have had some, although he never spoke about them to me.”
This comes as a EuroMillions winner who scooped £45million lost his life of luxury after killing a gran on Christmas Day.
Matt and Cassey Topham bagged themselves the eye-watering jackpot in 2012 and splurged on race cars, mansions, a helicopter, and even a zoo.
But, just two years later Matt and Cassey’s lives changed forever once again.
Meanwhile, a lucky punter dubbed the UK’s youngest lotto winner scooped a life-changing £1.8million jackpot – but ended up living on Universal Credit.
The incredible windfall should have been life-changing for 16-year-old Callie Rogers, but she has now revealed her biggest regrets as things spiralled out of control.
Elsewhere, Lee Ryan – dubbed the “Lotto Lag” – won a £12.7million windfall only for things to swiftly hurtle downhill.
After two divorces and bad business decisions Lee was left with nothing left from the win.
Read more on The Sun
Elsewhere, Lara Griffiths, from Leeds, explained her new fortune turned into the “darkest time” of her life.
After bagging the jackpot with her partner Roger, the lovebirds “fell out of love”.
2
