Man who won £3m mansion leaves home days after scooping prize as crumbling mansion is left abandoned for 3 years
A MAN who won a £3million mansion abandoned it after just three days over fears it could crumble into the sea.
Dad-of-five Glen Elmy was handed the keys to a “James Bond-style” coastal home after entering a prize draw for just £25.
Yet it has now been reported he walked away after just three days when finding the north Devon clifftop where it sat was at risk of collapsing into the sea.
The five-bedroom Stealth House overlooking Combe Martin Bay has now been left abandoned for years, MailOnline reports.
Foundry worker Mr Elmy, from Walsall in the West Midlands, moved in in October 2021 after winning the Omaze Million Pound House Draw.
But he was reportedly on his way out again only three days later after learning about coastal erosion putting the £3million property at risk.
Mr Elmy is said to have given the keys back to Omaze and asked for an equivalent cash sum instead.
He and his wife Debbie previously lived for 26 years in a £230,000 home in Walsall.
The prize draw Stealth House, within Exmoor National Park, boasted spectacular panoramic sea views, six bathrooms and an infinity pool.
Mr Elmy had paid £25 for a ticket in the TV draw which was raising charity funds for the NSPCC’s Childline.
He said at the time: “I’m totally gobsmacked – the only thing we’ve ever won before was three pounds at a bingo night on holiday.
“We absolutely love the house – if I could have designed one from scratch, it would look just like this.
“It’s like something from a Bond film.”
But a source has now been quoted as saying he “left after three days and that was the last we saw of him”.
A neighbour not wanting to be named said: “I never see anybody going in or out since the win.
“There is all sorts of speculation that it can’t be insured because of how close it’s been built to the sea and on the cliff edge.
“There is a problem with coastal erosion all along the coast here. There are signs around the beach warning about falling rocks.”
They told of moving to the area five years ago when Stealth House was available for £2.5million “but nobody wanted it”.
Sun Online has approached Omaze for comment.
Mr Elmy was the fourth person to win one of Omaze’s charity draw homes in Britain.
The first was a £1million property in Cheshire in a campaign which raised £250,000 for the Teenage Cancer Trust.
The next, for a £3million townhouse in Fulham in west London, generated £1million for the British Heart Foundation.
And the Prince’s Trust received £500,000 from a draw for a £2.5million five-bedroom property in the Cotswolds.