Inside tragic life of Lotto winner who said £9m jackpot ruined his life as he split from wife and drank himself to death
THIS is the story of the tragic Lotto winner, who said that his £9 million prize ruined his life as he drank himself to death.
Former baker Keith Gough died in 2010 aged just 58 after battling alcoholism and going through a divorce.
Keith, from Bridgnorth, Shropshire, gave up his job and splashed out on a top-of-the-range BMW, a group of racehorses and an executive box to watch his beloved Aston Villa after scooping the jackpot in 2005.
However, just two years later, he and his wife of 27 years Louise separated after he started drinking heavily out of "boredom".
This led to a stint in the Priory, a rehab facility in , and divorce.
Keith said in a 2009 interview that the win had "ruined" his life.
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He recalled: "Without routine in my life I started to spend, spend, spend. In the end I was just bored.
"Before the win all I would drink was some wine with a meal. I used to be popular but I've driven away all my friends. I don't trust anyone any more.
"When I see someone going in to a newsagent, I advise them not to buy a lottery ticket."
Following the collapse of his marriage, he moved to a £1 million rented home in Cheshire, complete with a chauffeur and gardener, but blew the cash on gambling.
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He also lost £700,000 to conman James Prince, who he had met in rehab and who persuaded him to invest in fraudulent business schemes.
Prince admitted money laundering and fraud in 2009 and was jailed for three years and four months.
Keith passed away at the Princess Royal hospital in Telford the following year from a suspected heart attack.
John Homer, who owned the newsagents where the tragic winner bought his unlucky ticket, told : "It was a Wednesday and a rollover from the previous Saturday. It all went downhill from there. He and his wife split.
"He did have a drink problem and it got progressively worse.
"It's very sad because it should have made him a very happy man, but he didn't get the best out of it.
"You never expected any sorrow or problems, but he must have had some, although he never spoke about them to me."
The Sun Online recently shone a light on a similar tragedy in the story of the EuroMillions winner who lost it all, crashed his Ferrari and sold his home.
In a similar case, a sheet metal worker who scooped £7.5 million in 1998 saw it all come crashing down after his divorce.
