MONEYBAGS
I bought £1.9m mansion with a tennis court with lottery win – but my best purchase is secondhand Jag that cost just £2k
A LUCKY Brit who scooped an eye-watering EuroMillions jackpot snapped up a luxury £1.9million mansion - but her best purchase was second hand.
Frances and Patrick Connolly's lives changed forever when they landed the whopping windfall.
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But the humble couple didn't splash the cash in a way people would expect - they even celebrated with a cuppa instead of bubbly.
Frances, 54, told The Sun all she really dreamed of was a comfy bungalow and a second-hand Jag.
She said: “I told everybody I was going to buy a bungalow, but we couldn’t find one.
"An estate agent came over with glossy brochures of houses we might be interested in.
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“One was a castle, and when they showed me pictures, I said, ‘That looks really small inside’.
“The agent said, ‘The guy that owns it lives in the other half’, and I said in disbelief, ‘You actually want me to buy a semi-detached castle?’ The other house they showed us was a 15-bed stately home in 250 acres, and if we bought it, we’d have owned a whole village as well.
“Patrick said to the agent, ‘We can’t afford it’, and the guy said, ‘I thought you’d just won the Lottery’.
“Patrick said, ‘Yes, but we can’t afford all the caps we’d have to buy just to get the villagers to doff their hats to us when we’re driving through’.
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“The last thing we wanted to do was own a village and act like a lord and lady.
“We just wanted a house for us to live in quietly, with just enough room for the grandchildren and the odd friend to stay. It had to feel like a welcoming home.”
Despite her heart set on a quaint little bungalow, Frances opted for a five-bed home surrounded by five acres.
The mansion also came with a swimming pool and tennis court.
“It’s not a stately home and it’s not a listed building but it is a very nice house," Frances added.
And for her birthday, Patrick gifted Frances a £2,000 X-Type Jaguar,
The grandma had been pining for the model after previously owning it more than a decade earlier - and it was discontinued in 2009.
On the other hand, Patrick upgraded his old Renault Laguna for a new £30,000 Alfa Romeo Giulia with the jackpot money.
Frances said: “I’ve always loved Jaguars, and I had one for my 40th, which I really loved.
"When I won the Lottery, I thought, ‘I’ll get that car’, but they didn’t make them any more, so I settled for a 2017 Jag.
“Last year, Patrick found the exact same car as the one I used to have, and bought it for me.
“We’ve no need for supercars, and I’m so proud that our daughters also drive second-hand cars. It’s something that does the job, and there’s no need to be flash.”
GENEROUS WINNERS
But Frances and Patrick didn't just spend the cash on themselves.
The couple scooped a whopping £114,969,775.70 and gave away more than half to family, friends and charities.
Frances said: “That’s £60million-worth of love. And the thing that makes me even happier is that every single person we gave money to has passed some of it on to other people.
"I can’t think of a day since winning the Lottery that I haven’t smiled."
The generous grandma admitted helping people brings her more joy than jewellery.
“Patrick joked for years that if we ever won the Lottery, he’d take away my mobile phone and never let me use the computer again because I’d give away the lot," she added.
The unsuspecting winner recalled she had been knitting when her husband checked the results.
She explained: “He turned his laptop around and I could see £114million. I thought, ‘With our luck there will be 114million winners today and we’ll have all won a quid each!’
“We sat staring at the laptop, then when the news sank in, we had a hug and celebrated with a cup of tea.
“At 1am Patrick had an email from Camelot. As soon as we realised it was true, we knew we wouldn’t sleep.
“Patrick looked at me and said, ‘Make your list — it’s a lot of money’.
“He handed me a notepad and pen and in the middle of the night we made the list of friends and family — 50 families we wanted to share our good fortune with.”
Frances said they refrained from buying luxury sports cars for their siblings, nieces and nephews because they feared someone would have an accident.
“Instead, we gave them money towards buying their own homes," she continued.
“We started with 50 immediate family and friends and once we started giving out money, there are family you don’t always see but you want to help, and the neighbours all got a little bit that we shared with.”
However the pair did have to deal with strangers contacting them for money - which they declined to send.
STAYING GROUNDED
The grandmother claimed her husband still shopped at Debenhams for new togs.
He would even check for promo-vouchers.
She said: “When Debenhams got into trouble my brother had a picture of one of their stores printed on a T-shirt with the slogan, ‘Because Paddy shops at Debenhams with a discount voucher’.”
She added: “Our family and our friends have kept us very grounded. But we’re fairly grounded people anyway and we were comfortable before we won the Lottery.”
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The happily married couple have stayed together - unlike other jackpot winners who end up going through very messy divorces.
“If our marriage had failed because we won money, then there was something wrong before the win," added Frances.
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