My £2m makeover
Lottery win brought larger house, 196mph Bentley, Flower of Scotland tattoo... and an end to his marriage of 29 years
WHEN Alisdair McRae and his wife won £2.1million on the Lottery, he said it would be a ‘wonderful’ new beginning to their lives.
And the sensible prison officer did change his life – he left his job, bought a Bentley and swapped his middleaged, bespectacled image for the look of a bearded, messy-haired and tattooed student.
But, sadly, one thing did not survive his transition to a new life as a millionaire – his marriage to Libby, the mother of his four children.
Little more than a year after their August 2012 windfall, the husband and wife have separated.
Mrs McRae, 51, said yesterday: ‘It is with great sadness that after 29 years of marriage I have separated from my husband. My priority is my children and I request that my privacy is respected at this difficult time.’
Mrs McRae, from Ellon, Aberdeenshire, bought her winning ticket for the draw on Saturday, August 18, l ast year, at her l ocal supermarket.
Her Lucky Dip line was one of two tickets that matched six numbers for the main Lotto draw, winning £2,159,664.
The couple said their first priority was to buy a bigger house for the family – Connor, 22, Finn, 19, Betty- Jean, 13, and eightyear- old Joy – and hire a cleaner.
Mrs McRae said at the time: ‘Having four kids, the first thing I want is a cleaner. We are also considering getting a bigger house. While we have younger kids, we aren’t really able to downsize.
‘We will be staying in Aberdeenshire because we love it here and it is safe for the kids.’
It i s unclear whether the McRaes ever got their cleaner, but the family stayed put in their Ellon cul- de- sac and instead improved the house by adding an extension.
Mr McRae said at the time: ‘People have said to me that the money won’t change us. But, obviously, it will. It’s a new beginning to our lives. It’s wonderful.’
Mrs McRae was studying social sciences with the Open University and working with disabled adults, and it is understood that after her win she continued her studies.
Mr McRae, now 53, told his boss at Peterhead Prison he would work the rest of the shift but would not be coming back the next day.
On social media sites, Mr McRae showed pictures of a Bentley with the caption: ‘Signed on the dotted line this weekend. Taken over a year, but should be worth i t eg 4wd, 3 tonnes, 196mph... I’m going to die!’
In March, he showed off a new tattoo, writing: ‘New tat – Flower of Scotland – to cover up my previous twee heart tattoo.’
Describing himself on Facebook as as an ‘ author and general layabout’, Mr McRae has recently re-published his 2011 book How the Scots won the English Civil War.
His Facebook and Twitter pages also reveal the father-off our’s support f or Scottish independence.
The McRaes announced their Lottery win at the Marcliffe Hotel just outside of Aberdeen where they were married in 1984.
A case involving Libby and Alisdair McRae appeared at the Court of Session on October 2, but no details were available.
Mr McRae, who is thought to be staying at his mother’s house in Fraserburgh, 26 miles away from the family home, was unavailable f or c omment yesterday.
Mrs McRae is still in the family home.