Lottery winner who won £11,000,000 jackpot dies aged 73
Paul Maddison and his former business partner Mark Gardiner won over £22 million in the lottery in 1995, which they split between themselves.
A reclusive lottery winner who lived a quiet life in the Scottish Highlands after scooping an £11m jackpot has died aged 73.
Paul Maddison and his former business partner Mark Gardiner won over £22 million in the lottery in 1995, which they split between themselves.
After splitting his winnings, Paul moved to Perth with his first wife Ruth, but their marriage broke down shortly afterwards when she left him for another man.
But Paul later fell in love with and married his former cleaner Evelyn McGillivary, who he wed on a beach in Mauritius on Valentine’s Day in 1997 and lived happily with ever since.
After spending £10,000 doing up the property he sold it to a member of the Stagecoach tycoon family for £450,000 and moved into a 16th Century property called Robgill Tower, near Dumfries, where the couple lived ‘reclusively’.
Mr Maddison set up security cameras and a remote-controlled front gate with an intercom system, and the couple were rarely seen leaving the 40 acre grounds by neighbours.
In 2008, the couple sold the tower for £2.8million and moved back to the Perth area.
Evelyn, a former florist, said the house had been too big for them and it was time to downsize.
She told the Daily Record: ‘It has been a fabulous and very happy house but it has become too big for us.
‘Sometimes we moved bedrooms just for a change but really it’s time for the next part of the dream.
‘We have done the big house thing.
‘Now we want something more manageable.
‘This house is a lottery fantasy now.
‘Maybe another winner will buy it.’
Evelyn is understood to have died earlier this year following a health battle.
Paul is understood to have died on November 28, just months after Evelyn passed away aged 62.
Mark Gardiner, Paul’s co-winner and former business partner, still works for the double-glazing firm he managed before the win and invested £2million in the company.
He was 32 when he split the £11million with Paul and spent some of his winnings on a home in Barbados. He alsobought his local football club in Hastings, East Sussex.
The 61-year-old said his secret to staying normal was that he kept working but he admitted there was things he might have done differently.
Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@metro.co.uk.
For more stories like this, check our news page.