I’m the ‘lotto lag’ who won £6.5m Lottery jackpot – it was a curse… here’s the three things I wish I’d done differently
BRITAIN'S "Lotto lag" who bagged a £6.5 million jackpot before blowing the lot has revealed three things he wishes he did differently.
Lee Ryan was the first seven-figure National Lottery winner to go on to be sent to prison.
Following his 1995 windfall - £12.7 million in today's money - Lee splashed out on a mansion, supercars, a helicopter and aeroplane.
But his life unravelled and by 2010 he was down and out on the streets, a victim of what he called "a curse".
Now 63, Lee works as a decorator painting posh homes just like the one he used to own but insists he's the "happiest I’ve ever been."
But reflecting on his rags, to riches, to rags story, he says there are three things he would do differently.
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Lee, who spent five years living on the streets, told : "If I had my time again, I’d open a hotel for the homeless.
"I used to slip envelopes of cash to homeless people and that was the most pleasure I ever got from having money."
Lee's roller coaster life began on March 11, 1995, when, just 17 weeks after the National Lottery began, he and his girlfriend Karen Taylor won £6,527,880 with the numbers 2, 13, 22, 27, 29, 46.
Lee - who had been living in a Leicester council house with their three young kids - was in prison at the time of his win for handling a stolen vehicle and didn't get to enjoy his money for nine months.
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Once out, he gave up his life of crime and bought a Bentley, a Ferrari, a Porsche and a BMW with number plates LEE 1, LEE 2, LEE 3 and LEE 4.
The £1 million mansion with swimming pool, tennis court, sauna and Jacuzzi followed, as did two Ducatis, a £125,000 plane and a £235,000 Bell JetRanger helicopter.
Lee had told his family about the win but wishes he didn't as it got out.
He explained: "This is just the beginning of your worries.
"You will see who is who in your life, even in your own family it becomes fractured. It’s all just an illusion really."
Lee and Karen split in 2003 before moving to Kyrgyzstan with new girlfriend Jyldyz Djangaracheva.
But it was in the cowboy Central Asian country where he went on to lose £2 million in failed business ventures and property investment.
Lee's fish farm venture got into deep water when local mafia bosses stole his fish, and a plan to bring the lottery to China saw his money stolen by officials.
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He filed for a second divorce and moved home to London penniless and homeless.
Reflecting on his life, Lee said: "There was a time when I prayed for my pound back. But now at this point I’m happier than I’ve ever been in my whole life."
