You don’t deserve another penny
What judge told £101m lotto winners’ son who blew £1.6m and took them to court to get more
A FORMER naval officer who sued his £101 million lottery-winning father after he stopped giving him money had his case thrown out of court yesterday.
Afghanistan veteran Michael Dawes received £1 million from the EuroMillions payout but quickly spent it.
At one point he was spending up to £30,000 a month, including £1,000 a week on groceries. His father Dave Dawes, 53, gave him more money, but the generosity dried up following a drunken row at a birthday party.
Michael Dawes, 32, took his claim to the Central London County Court, where he claimed his father promised he would ‘always be looked after’, but had become ‘rather grand’ and ‘ungenerous in spirit’.
However Richard Wilson QC, representing retired factory worker Mr Dawes, accused Michael Dawes and his civil partner, James Beedle, of failing to repay ‘generosity with gratitude’.
He said: ‘They appear to have developed a sense of entitlement, such that they are now bringing this claim to court.’
Judge Nigel Gerald agreed, ruling there was no need for Mr Dawes to keep ‘bailing out’ his ‘profligate’ son.
He added: ‘There was no basis on which any rational or normal human
‘Developed a sense of entitlement’
being could conclude that they could go back for more money whenever they wanted.’
Mr Dawes and his wife Angela, 49, of Wisbech, Cambridgeshire, won the nine-figure sum in 2011. The money allowed him to quit his job, and the couple lavished £30 million on loved ones and a charity, Mr Wilson said.
‘One of their first actions after receiving their money was to share their good fortune with members of their family, giving away substantial amounts,’ he added.
Michael Dawes used his father and stepmother’s largesse to pay his mortgage, buy a BMW and help his friends and his partner’s family, the court was told.
Several times between 2011 and 2012, he had ‘run out of money’ but Mr Dawes always ‘topped up’ his account. In total he received almost £1.6 million.
Things changed in November 2013 when Michael Dawes turned up at his stepmother’s birthday party without a gift. Asked yesterday why he had failed to buy something, he said he had brought flowers, adding: ‘What do you give someone who has everything?’
Tempers frayed during the party and Michael Dawes allegedly told his father he ‘didn’t deserve what he’d got’ – a claim he denied. He admitted he had drunk a lot, but said his father ‘tried to come at me’ and had to be held back by other people.
Michael Dawes sent a card apologising for the ‘drunken disagree- ment’, but it failed to heal the rift. Mr Wilson told the court: ‘They have not spoken since and Dave and Angela’s financial support has ceased.’
Mr and Mrs Dawes handed £1 million each to 11 close family and friends within a month of their win. Mrs Dawes said: ‘We thought that £1 million would more than cover them for life.’
She admitted she and her husband became irritated when they learnt how Michael was burning through his windfall, adding: ‘We told him to stop going to the Ritz for lunch and go to McDonald’s instead.’ Dave Dawes’s other son, Matthew, who also received £1 million, said their father had been clear that they would need to ‘keep working to pay the bills’.
Michael Dawes alleged his father said in a phone call straight after the win that he ‘would always be looked after’.
He and his partner made a series of key life decisions based on that, he claimed.
He gave up a job in IT, while Mr Beedle, 34, quit as a lieutenant in the Royal Navy and now works in the Royal Fleet Auxiliary.
As a result, Michael Dawes wanted a ruling to enforce his father’s alleged offer to keep supporting him financially.
He said: ‘My expectation was that this was an ongoing process, that there was more money coming in and that this would be the process throughout my life.’
He also accused his father and stepmother of showing ‘arrogance and ungenerosity of spirit’.
‘I saw how, over time, their attitude changed from being relatively humble to being rather grand,’ he said.
‘ They expected the people around them to treat them differ- ently because of their money.’ But Mr Wilson said Mr Dawes and his wife never led Michael Dawes to believe there was a ‘bottomless pit from which he could get money whenever he wanted’.
Judge Gerald said: ‘Michael was provided with the funds to have a comfortable life but, for his own reasons, he chose not to take that opportunity. I therefore dismiss the claim.’
After the case, Mr Beedle said: ‘There are no hard feelings. We just thought we had a genuine claim.’