A DIVORCEE has revealed the “absolute hell” she was put through after winning the lottery.
Lara Griffiths, 54, won £1.8 million in the first online National Lottery but has since lost her house, husband and spent all of the cash.
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Lara married Roger in 1997 after meeting at university with the pair going on to claim the lottery jackpot in October 2005.
Working as a performing arts teacher and her husband an IT manager, the pair could not believe it was true.
At first, the parents of 22-month-old daughter, Ruby, thought they were being pranked after receiving an alert at 2.30am.
The couple were quick to appear in public soon after the win had been verified by Camelot, the operator of the National Lottery back then.
Living the high-life, Lara and Roger became regular jet-setters, quitting their jobs and flying to various destinations including Dubai, Florida and France.
Back home, the overnight millionaires had moved into a £450,000 barn conversion and bought a beauty salon too.
Much like their sudden cash claim, everything came falling down in December 2010 when their new home was subject to a “catastrophic house fire“.
Lara said: “The whole place burned down while I was at work, but Roger, the two children and the dogs were inside.
“It was a nightmare – we lost all of our possessions too. We didn’t even have clothes to wear. Our home burned for three days.”
The house was uninhabitable for eight months with Lara’s other daughter, Kitty, still experiencing PTSD to this day.
Despite mourning the loss of their house, Lara was faced with another battle to overcome when her husband left her.
By the time they divorced in December 2013, the pair were strapped for cash.
To make matters even worse, Lara suffers from Crohn’s disease causing her weight to drop to around six stone.
Ever since, the mum-of-two has been forced to pitch up in her mother’s house, relying on her financially for the first year too.
Her daughters Ruby, 20, and Kitty, 17, also live at the property which has a studio in the garden after Lara retrained as a tattoo artist.
Lara added: “I love my life now. OK, I’ve been through some really difficult moments, but I don’t regret winning.”
“I regret not having the money any more, but I plan to make it back somehow.”
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