Winner had £1m lotto ticket in wallet for a month

A FORGETFUL gardener walked around with a lottery ticket worth £1million in his wallet for nearly a month before he realised what it was worth.

Martin Crighton, 46, forgot to check his Euromillions ticket for the draw on Aug 15 after he bought it from a Londis store in Hadleigh, Suffolk.

He kept it among a stack of receipts and business cards in his wallet until he read a newspaper article about an unclaimed lottery prize in his local area.

The article prompted him to dig out the ticket and check the numbers, revealing that he was the winner.

Self-employed Martin, who lives in a rented house in Boxford, Suffolk, plans to spend his winnings on a new home and holidays – but he said he would not be giving up his job.

He said: “I love my job and the people I work for have become really good friends so I certainly have no plans to stop working.

“I am just delighted that I will now be able to afford to buy my own home and never have any money worries ever again. It feels absolutely brilliant.”