When Gillian Bayford won £148 million on the lottery, she thought that she would be able to buy her family everything they wanted. She soon learnt, however, that she could not buy the harmony she craved.
Having bought her parents and her brother new homes, cars and businesses, Mrs Bayford has claimed that they are no longer talking to her. After doling out more than £20 million of her winnings, she said the bank had closed.
Mrs Bayford’s generosity after what was a record-breaking EuroMillions lottery win four years ago could hardly have been faulted. Her brother Colin got a house and several Audis. He was able to marry his girlfriend and buy an £800,000 play centre business. He did not, however, bother to invite his sister to the wedding.
Mrs Bayford rescued Colin, her father Ian McCulloch, 71, and mother Brenda, 66, from a quagmire of debt that had left her parents living in a caravan. They now have a smart home and several exotic holidays a year.
Her grandmother fell ill, however, while her parents were away. Mrs Bayford, a 43-year-old mother of two, said it cost her £25,000 to bring them home because her father refused to fly economy. The grandmother died and the parents have had no contact with Mrs Bayford and her two children.
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Mrs Bayford claimed that her parents no longer talked to her because she was an embarrassment to them. Her parents, however, said that they had no idea what her problem was.
Mrs Bayford’s life also disintegrated after her lottery win. She bought a £6 million Georgian home in 200 acres of Suffolk countryside with her husband Adrian, 45. They split up within 15 months saying the win had put an unbearable strain on their relationship. Both are now engaged to new partners.
Mrs Bayford said that she had had little in the way of thanks for paying off her parents’ and brother’s business debts of £700,000. She said that she did not intend to bail them out again.
Mrs Bayford, who now lives in Dundee with her new partner, said: “The money was supposed to make everybody happy but it’s made them demanding and greedy. They’ve been given money and houses and cars but still wanted more. My dad has openly said he wants to control my business and take half my money.”
Her parents live in a £275,000 apartment in Carnoustie on the east coast of Scotland where she grew up before moving to Suffolk. She worked as a health care assistant in a children’s ward at Addenbrooke’s Hospital before her win. Her former husband ran a second-hand record shop but says he had to give it up because of all the begging letters.
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She said that her father had enjoyed holidays in Canada, South Africa and Florida in the past year. Mrs Bayford told The Sun that her father and brother were being threatened because of the debts they had accumulated before she rescued them. She said: “I can hold my head up because I’ve taken them out of a situation. They brought our name into disrespect. We had people threatening to torch the family house. My dad and brother built up one company after another and then closed them down. I’ve bailed them out of every debt.”
She claimed that they had antagonised their neighbours by their ostentation. She said: “They have lost touch with where they’ve come from.”
Mrs Bayford has spread her own share of unhappiness. In 2014 she bought a café in Arbroath but it closed last month. Her 21 employees were upset they each received a £100 payoff.
She is engaged to Alan Warnock, an Audi dealer who sold her three cars.The couple now run a property company.
Colin McCulloch declined to comment but his father denies that there has been a rift. He said: “We have no issues at all with Gillian.
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“It’s all lies. We don’t want anything . . . She’s given us too much. But we don’t understand what she’s doing now.”