THE LUCKIEST MAN IN THE WORLD
‘Punching above his weight’ contest winner nets £1m on scratchcard
AN average bloke who won a “punching above your weight” contest with his beautiful wife has now scooped £1million.
Darren Donaghey, 33, married to Kate, 28, hit the jackpot with a £5 lottery scratchcard. He said: “I must just be one of those lucky fellas.”
DARREN Donaghey was already counting his blessings after wooing stunning Kate, before they settled down to marry and start a family.
But the “punching above your weight” champ now feels like one of the luckiest men in the world after winning £1million on a lottery scratchcard.
Darren, 33, and Kate, 28, hit headlines four years ago when they won a local radio station’s competition to find the most mismatched couple on looks.
They now say the lotto prize money will transform their lives.
Asked if “some guys have all the luck”, Darren joked: “It certainly looks like it. I must just be one of those lucky fellas.”
The call centre worker will give up his £14,000-a-year job to volunteer for charities and help Kate care for their autistic son and daughter, aged six and three.
Speaking at a press conference in their hometown of Newcastle upon Tyne yesterday, the couple said they “could not believe it” when they realised they had won on a £5 Monopoly Classic card.
Darren said: “This money will just totally change our lives and the lives of our children too. We are currently in a two-bedroom house and desperately need more room for the children.
“Now all of our dreams have come true with this win. We can move to a new home. And we can even create a sensory room for our daughter and son.”
They will also help their relatives and some deserving local causes which supported them and their kids.
Kate said they had received various suggestions on how to spend the money since the win on Tuesday. But she added: “We have already booked a holiday in Mexico and it will give us the chance to think everything through.”
Darren said he bought the scratchcard on a whim. Describing the moment he won, he said: “I couldn’t actually believe it. I literally had £1million in my hand. I just screamed but I also felt numb.
“I don’t think either of us believed it until we called Camelot and they confirmed we really were millionaires.”
The pair are no strangers to the limelight, after entering Metro Radio’s Punching Above Your Weight contest in 2014. It paid for their honeymoon in Rhodes after they married that year.
Darren said over the years he had got used to comments about his appearance in comparison to Kate’s. He said: “Even when we are out shopping at Asda I get these funny looks from blokes and I know what they are thinking.”
Full-time mum Kate added: “People say love is blind and I guess I must be a prime example to that, but he will always be my Prince Charming.”
This money will totally change our lives. Our dreams have come true DARREN DONAGHEY ON £1MILLION WINDFALL
THE smirking face of Fred Goodwin tells you everything you need to know about the former RBS boss.
He was one of the roulette-playing money men who caused the financial crash.
Ten years on we are still living with the consequences of their reckless behaviour in the form of lower wages, austerity and £50billion slashed from public services.
You would have thought those responsible would hang their heads in shame.
Instead, thanks to his obscene pension deal, Goodwin is literally laughing all the way from the bank he brought to the edge of collapse.
He can well afford the £30,000 golf membership and to maintain his stable of vintage cars.
For the taxpayers who bailed out RBS it is a different story: households are £23,400 worse off on average and wages in real terms are £800 a year lower than 10 years ago.
The bankers have not mended their ways. Since 2008, we have had the Libor scandal, money laundering, rigging of foreign exchange rates and the mis-selling of insurance deals.
While they continue to reward themselves with fat bonuses, customers have to put up with shoddy service, IT failures and closures.
This is an industry which remains on the make and on the take.