ROMANCE ENDED IN TEARS
anyone?’ She said: ‘You just have to be careful’. I assumed that’s the reason why she didn’t tell me at first.”
As the romance developed, Gavin says that Gillian tried to help him get off unemployment benefit.
He explains: “She hated me being on benefits so she told me to come off them.
“I was nervous because I’d relied on them for years.
“I was offered two or three jobs, but she told me to turn them down.”
Gavin claims he tried to play peacemaker between Gillian and her estranged family – dad Ian McCulloch, 71, mum Brenda, 68, and brother Colin, 43.
They were living in a caravan park when Gillian hit the jackpot.
At the time Ian said of his daughter: “Money won’t change Gillian. She’s just a lovely girl, a gem.”
But the family later claimed Gillian turned her back on them. In response, Gillian has said: “It’s upsetting and raw.
“The money was supposed to make everybody happy. But it’s made them demanding and greedy.
“They’ve been given money and houses and cars but still wanted more.”
Gavin says he only found out his relationship with Gillian was over when a reporter came to his door.
SOUR
He believes one of the reasons the romance eventually turned sour was because he tried to get her to heal her family rift.
Gavin says: “She never talked about her parents, she avoided any conversation about them. I just didn’t get it, I offered to come with her to mediate – but she didn’t want any help.”
Gavin was keen to answer accusations that he had behaved like a gold digger.
He insists he puts “morals over money” and was not with Gillian for her multi-million pound fortune.
Gillian’s chaotic love life has never been far from the headlines since winning the Euromillions pot.
On the day she and Adrian picked up their cheque they posed for pictures and were clearly over the moon.
But they split up just 15 months after the jackpot win, publicly blaming the stress of the windfall for their divorce.
She has since had a string of unsuccessful relationships and public breakups, leading some to believe she has fallen foul of the “curse of the lottery”.
A romance with car dealer Alan Warnock, 47, saw her buy a fleet of luxury Audis from him. They got engaged, but broke up last year – and that’s when Gillian sought comfort in the arms of down-to-earth Gavin.
But their union ended abruptly last November, shortly before Gillian struck up a romance with fraudster Deans, who had served time for a £13,000 con when he worked at Tesco.
And despite Gillian finding love again, Gavin doubts whether she will ever be truly happy.
He adds: “I read about her wedding in the papers.
“She looked nice. I wish her well, but I wish I’d never met her.”
Gillian did not want to comment yesterday.