A British couple who scooped more than £148 million in the lottery said they will use the money to improve their family life after barely seeing each other for years because of shift-work.

ByRichard Alleyne, Victoria Ward and Auslan Cramb

1:45PM BST 14 Aug 2012


Adrian Bayford, 41, a shop owner and his health care worker wife Gillian, 40, said making ends meet involved working so hard they were "like ships in the night" only seeing their children and each other for a few hours a day.

But their new found fortune – the second biggest jackpot ever – now means that they will be able to see a lot more of each other – and will not have to work unsociable shifts.

The couple from Haverhill in Suffolk, who have two children Cameron, four, and Amy, six, said they were very grounded and felt that the vast fortune would not change them.

(Geoff Pugh)

Mr Bayford said he will soon be back behind the counter of his second hand music shop and she vowed to continue "hitting the sales".

They also plan to share their good fortune with a small but close group of family and friends so that they do not run the risk of being ostracised by their riches.

Speaking at a press conference to reveal their great fortune they admitted that the win was both "exciting" and "frightening".
"When you get that amount of money and you have never had it, it is something you have to think about," said Mrs Bayford, who plans to give up her job in the children's ward of Addenbrooke's Hospital, Cambridgeshire.
Gillian and Adrian Bayford from Haverhill, Suffolk (Sean Dempsey/PA)
Mrs Bayford said she wanted to spend more time at home, saying her frequent night shifts and her husband's work at the shop during the day meant they were often "ships in the night", seeing each other for an hour each evening.
"To support the family I have to do quite a lot of shift work and I love my job, but the opportunity has arisen now that hopefully I can give up work and give some time to my family, have some time for my husband and children," she said.
Mr Bayford, who bought the winning ticket at a shop over the road from their house using Lucky Dip numbers, said they bought it because they needed the money a win would generate.
"Everyone is struggling in this recession," Mrs Bayford said.
"This month had been an extremely tight month, to be honest.
"We had gone shopping the other day and I had spent some money on the children for some holiday clothes and I actually got home that night and thought 'hmmm, I really shouldn't have spent that' because I'm a bit short this month, my night shifts hadn't been as many as I previously had in other months.
"We were struggling to get to pay day and, yes, I have already bought another one (EuroMillions ticket) and I posted it up to my mum."
She said that they had decided to go public because you cannot give money away and expect people to be quiet about it.
The couple plan to buy a new home with a nice kitchen complete with mod cons and she would like to buy an Audi four-by-four car.
Mr Bayford said he would like to take the children to Disney World and then expand his business.
"This money has come at the right time for us and is going to benefit the whole family," he said.
"The win is not just for us, it is for us to share and everyone’s life is going to be so much more enjoyable and stress-free.”
The couple plan to take time to consider how else they will use the money to help others.
Mrs Bayford said: “Children’s charities are close to our hearts so we will be exploring how we can use this money to help those charities but it is too soon to say exactly what.”
The Bayfords are the seventh big EuroMillions jackpot winners from the UK this year, according to Camelot.
According to the Sunday Times Rich List, they now have a fortune to rival Jamie and Jools Oliver (£150 million), Sir Tom Jones (£140 million) and Eric Clapton (£130 million).
Their £148 million win places them 516th in Britain's Rich List.
Mrs Bayford's uncle Clarke Linton, who owns the Burntisland Sands Hotel in Fife, said the whole family was delighted for her, adding: "It is a fine reward for a hard working couple."
He said he had spoken to his sister Brenda, Mrs Bayford's mother, about the win but not to his niece and added that the scale of the jackpot had made family life "a bit chaotic" yesterday.
Mrs Bayford, who was born in Kirkcaldy, attended Harris Academy in Dundee and studied at the city's University of Abertay. Her parents Ian and Brenda live in Carnoustie where they formerly ran a blinds company.
Mr Bayford texted his business partner, Richard Hudspith, at 6.45am on Saturday to say that "something had cropped up" and that he would not be turning up for work that day.
Mr Hudspith said he assumed his friend wanted to spend the day with his children but at 3.30pm, Mr Bayford called him and said, "Shut the shop, Gillian and I are coming to pick you up. I've got some news for you and it's going to change a lot of things."
"We went back to my house and they told me but I didn't believe him at first," he said. "He had to get the ticket out.
"We spoke about expanding the business. I wouldn't blame him if he didn't come back into the shop but Adrian doesn't like sitting around doing nothing."
Mr Hudspith said business had been tough recently but that they had decided to focus on customer service and the local community as they competed with online services.
My Bayford, who has worked as a postman and at a Cambridge food court as he struggled to make ends meet, started his business as a market stall trader selling vinyl before setting up the shop.
He is understood to be taking his family on holiday in Europe later this week.

British lottery winners: £148 million will buy 'normality and a family life' - Telegraph