A married couple from Lancashire have been named the winners of a £61million EuroMillions jackpot prize.
Richard and Debbie Nuttall, both 54, from Colne, were announced as winners of the huge sum by the National Lottery on Wednesday lunchtime.
The couple were on a week-long holiday in Fuerteventura, celebrating their 30th wedding anniversary, when the news of their success emerged.
But Mr Nuttall, a self-employed accountant, said when he checked his account online he saw a win of £2.60.
He said: "So I went through to Debs and I said we've won £2.60 on the lottery and she was like: 'Woohoo, we'll go and have a bacon butty or something with that."'
But he later realised the £2.60 was from a win in November and when he logged in again later that day, after another email, he saw a figure of £61,708,231.
Mr Nuttall described how they had jumped up in and down in their car seats when they realised they had won, after “desperately” driving around the Canary islands searching for mobile signal to check their numbers.
“We just couldn’t make sense of it,” Mr Nuttall told a press conference on Wednesday.
“My first thought was it must be a scam or there was some mix-up.”
Describing the couple’s emotions after they had spoken to the National Lottery and confirmed their win, he said: “By this time me and Debs are going mental…jumping up and down in our car seats, punching the air, thumping the dashboard…the car must have been rocking.”
The lucky couple won a £61,708,231 share of the £123 million jackpot prize from the draw on January 30 – with the other winning ticket having been bought in Spain.
The couple are reportedly now planning more holidays in the sun, while Mr Nuttall is hoping to “do all the best golf courses” with a friend.
“We've always worked and now we have got the opportunity to do whatever we want,” said Mr Nuttall, according to the BBC.
Mrs Nuttall reportedly added: “There's a place in Barbados I have always wanted to go to so that is on the list."Andy Carter, senior winners’ adviser at the National Lottery, said earlier this month: “This is absolutely incredible news and we’re delighted that we’ve received a claim.
“This is the first UK EuroMillions jackpot win of 2024, following on from an incredible 2023 which saw six UK EuroMillions jackpots won, including a £111.7 million win by an anonymous single ticket-holder in June.
“Our focus is now on supporting this latest lucky ticket-holder through the process and helping them start to enjoy their truly life-changing win.”
