EuroMillions winner who said £27,000,000 prize ‘destroyed her life’ found dead
A lottery winner who said her £27million jackpot brought her ‘nothing but grief’ has been found dead at home.
Margaret Loughrey, 56, who lived alone in Strabane, Co Tyrone, was discovered at around 10.30am this morning after an ambulance was called.
Her death is not being treated as suspicious and a post-mortem will be carried out to find out exactly how she died.
Local councillor Jason Barr, said: ‘My thoughts and prayers are with the Loughry family and they’re with friends of Margaret as well. It’s a very sad day.
‘Margaret would have been well thought of… she has had her ups and downs in life like all of us but hopefully she’s at rest now.’
Margaret was unemployed and living on benefits when she won the EuroMillions draw in November 2013 and completely changed her life.
On the day she bought her ticket and correctly marked five numbers and two lucky stars, she’d been to get an application form for a job with a charity.
Despite netting £26,863,588 in total, she carried on living in her hometown and insisted at the time that they money was ‘going to be spread around’.
She bought the derelict Herdmans Mill, near her home, for around £1million in 2014, but her plans to revamp the place never got off the ground.
That same year she got into a dispute with the Sion Mills Cricket Club, which is on the 60-acre grounds, after locking them out of their pitch, the Belfast Telegraph reports.
As a result the team was forced to forfeit two home games for the first time in their 150-year history. Eventually Margaret came to an agreement letting them use the pitch again.
In 2015 Margaret was convicted of assaulting a taxi driver and ordered to do 150 hours of community service.
Three years later she lost an employment tribunal and was ordered to pay £30,000 to an ex-employee for bullying and sacking him on a ‘vindictive whim’.
Speaking to Sunday Life in 2019, Margaret said her lottery win had ‘sent her to hell and back’.
She added: ‘Money has brought me nothing but grief. It has destroyed my life.
‘I have had six years of this. I don’t believe in religion, but if there is a hell, I have been in it. It has been that bad. I went down to five-and-a-half stone.’
A PSNI spokesperson said: ‘Police received a report of the sudden death of a woman at the Ballycolman Lane area of Strabane on Thursday 2nd September.
‘A post mortem is due to take place but at this stage, the death is not being treated as suspicious.’
Need support? Contact the Samaritans
For emotional support you can call the Samaritans 24-hour helpline on 116 123, email jo@samaritans.org, visit a Samaritans branch in person or go to the Samaritans website.