A lucky lotto winner splurged his huge fortune at a rate of almost £100,000 a week, newly released documents reveal. Colin Weir and then wife Christine became Scotland's biggest ever winners when they hit the £161million EuroMillions jackpot in 2011.
Their whopping win remains one of the largest ever - only surpassed in 2019 when an unnamed player in Italy landed a staggering £193million. But by the time he died in 2019 at the age 71, Colin's share of the windfall had shrunk by £40million, Daily Record reports.
The rate of his spending has surprised many, with one financial expert saying: “Spending £40million in eight years takes a bit of doing.” Colin splashed out on cars and pumped money into his favourite football club, Partick Thistle.
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Kind-hearted Colin also shared his fortune with friends and charitable trusts. He died suddenly and passed on money to his two children with Christine – Carly and Jamie. Colin, from Ayrshire, threw his friends and family a no-expense-spared farewell party weeks after he died and laid on a luxury £1million event at the Trump Turnberry.
Guests dined on lobster, drank £340-a-bottle champagne and £40-a-plate truffle soup. Colin’s will shows that when he died suddenly from sepsis and an “acute kidney injury”, he owned furniture, jewellery and artworks valued at about £212,000.
His garage housed four luxury cars – a vintage Bentley Arnage, worth £10,000, a £28,250 three-year-old Jaguar F-Pace SUV, a £24,000 four-year-old Mercedes Benz E Class Estate and a 2019 Mercedes Benz V Class people carrier, valued at about £35,000.
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He bought a 55 percent stake in Partick Thistle a month before he died so he could donate the club to the fans and put its future in the hands of the local community.
Colin had suffered years of ill health and he and Christine split in 2019 after 38 years of marriage.
At the time of his death, he lived in a £1.1million five-bedroom seafront home in Ayr, which he bought in June 2018 after his marriage split.
He signed over sole ownership of £3.5million Frognal House, near Troon, to former psychiatric nurse Christine. The couple reportedly bought the mansion, along with furniture and fittings, after a 10-minute viewing.
Papers show his council tax was £37.08 in credit and he had the maximum £50,000 in National Savings and Investments Premium Bonds.
Racing fan Colin also partly owned three thoroughbreds, including geldings Knighted and Felony, and Irish mare If You Say Run.
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