A WINNING PET

BRITAIN’S luckiest couple landed a £300,000 double EuroMillions win when their pet labrador became a retriever.

Jane and Alan Slater had spent five days celebrating being £150,000 richer, not realising they had scooped twice that amount.

Both had bought a ticket using their usual numbers but Alan had forgotten and accidentally left it in a brochure on the back seat of their car.

It was only discovered when their white labrador Ruby, after a walk with Jane, kicked the brochure and sent the second ticket fluttering to the ground. Jane checked the numbers and assumed the original winning ticket was put there by Alan.

“I phoned to ask him,” said the catering assistant, 59. “He swore he hadn’t touched it and said it was still in the bedroom. Then I recalled Camelot told me to sign the back of my winning ticket. I turned it over and my name wasn’t there, so we realised we must have another winner with five matching numbers and a lucky star.” Forgetful ferry worker Alan, 65, finally remembered buying it and putting it inside the brochure in the car. “I’ve done that a few times,” he said. “This time we burst into tears at our good fortune.

“It happened in such a magical way, with Ruby disturbing the ticket on her second birthday and it floating gently down in front of Jane’s eyes. My ticket could easily have disappeared in the rubbish when I tidied the car.”

The couple, from Newport on the Isle of Wight, have been married for 43 years and for two decades have used the same lottery numbers, including the birthdays of their two children. They now plan on treating Ruby to a holiday.