My dad didn’t share his EuroMillions jackpot so we smashed up his car with a HAMMER – and other winners who went to war
KIRK Stevens isn’t the only Lottery loser who missed out on a fortune when a relationship turned sour.
We revealed how engineer Kirk, 39, from Hucknall, Notts, believes he is due a share of his ex-girlfriend Laura Hoyle’s £3.6million jackpot.
But other lotto feuds have erupted over who is due what - and some are even more bitter.
One son even smashed up his dad’s car because no slice of the good fortune came his way.
The rules of the British National Lottery are clear - only the person named on the winning ticket is entitled to the cash.
That can lead to nasty disputes among syndicates, friends, family and spouses, as we see here.
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Hammer time
When a dozen bus drivers from Corby in Northants scooped £38million on the EuroMillions a decade ago, they thought they had the ticket to the easy life.
But it sparked a feud between Alex Robertson and his sons, who claimed he refused to share any of his £3.1million winnings with them.
Alex Jnr, 45, admitted: “We ended up taking hammers to his two new 4x4 Shoguns.
"We walked up his driveway at 11 o'clock at night and put two claw hammers through the windows of the car.
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"We then reported ourselves to the police.”
He told The Sun at the time: “This lottery win was the worst thing that ever happened to us — it ripped our families apart."
His brother William, 44, was charged in with harassing the Lotto winner by sending him threatening text messages
But the case against William was dropped in 2013 after Alex Snr, 77, decided against flying from Spain to give evidence in the trial.
Wife strife
A husband fumed when the rest of his syndicate refused to share some of the prize with his wife, who had accidently picked the lucky numbers.
Jim Hogg, from Drongnan, Ayrshire, thought that his wife Nan should get a decent chunk of the £100,000 won by the ten members - even though she hadn’t paid in - because the good fortune was down her getting one digit muddled up.
But the other nine winners were only willing to give her £1,000 as a thank you in 2009.
Cleaner Jim said: "If I'd been greedy I could have kept the £100,000 without saying a word — how would they have known?"
Family misfortunes
Dublin taxi driver Gary Ellison took legal action in 2009 when he didn’t get a share of his aunt’s £380,000 Lotto luck.
He told a court that he had signed the back of the winning ticket with his aunt Kay when she handed it in to Ireland’s National Lottery.
But after Kay died in 2007 the bulk of the money went to Gary’s uncle Liam instead, who insisted he’d been part of a syndicate with his sister for almost 18 years.
Chequing out
Dawn Watson confronted her pal Beverley Caskie when the Newcastle woman collected a cheque for £1.4million from Camelot in 1998.
She reportedly stormed: “I never thought you could cheat me like this.”
The work colleagues had a written agreement to share any winnings, but Beverley insisted that deal was annulled when Dawn moved to a different job a week earlier and didn’t put her numbers on.
Beverley said: "I sympathise with her. I will talk to her when things have settled down."
Hitting the roof
Failing to put his stake in not only cost roofer Tony Holmes a share of £2.2million in 1997, but also good relations with his brother Eddie.
Eddie, of Batheaston, near Bath, Somerset, had little sympathy with Tony and four other members of a 25 strong syndicate who didn’t keep up their payments.
He said at the time: “They knew the rules.”
Tony said: "I have been a member of the syndicate from day one which is nearly two years.
"I am devastated. I think they should have chipped in a little bit."
Name of the game
An aunt in Canada took her nephew to court to prevent him receiving half of her £619,000 lottery win four years ago.
Barbara Reddick claimed she had given Tyrone MacInnes the money to buy the ticket and asked him to put his name on it for luck.
She said: “I put his name on the ticket for good luck because he’s like a son to me — he was.
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"He was lucky, but not for half a million dollars. Tyrone is getting nothing from me.”
A judge ruled that Barbara was entitled to the bulk of the winnings, but still awarded more than a quarter of the money to Tyrone.