Grandmother aged 48 who claims she put £33m lottery ticket in wash
She’s already had begging letters
THE woman at the centre of the £33million lottery jackpot riddle was last night revealed to be a divorced German grandmother.
And she is already receiving begging letters from neighbours and strangers seeking a share of the prize.
Susanne Hinte, 48, claims she accidentally washed the winning ticket in a pair of jeans. She has now sent the water-damaged slip to lottery firm Camelot for verification.
The six winning numbers remain intact – but not the date of the draw or barcode. Without these crucial details, which are always printed on a ticket, it is impossible for Camelot to instantly verify the claim.
The winning numbers for the record £66million draw on January 9 – shared with Hawick couple David and Carol Martin, both 54 – were 26, 27, 46, 47, 52 and 58.
Yesterday Miss Hinte, a qualified nurse who has a heart condition, was keeping a low profile at her family’s housing association semi-detached home in Worcester as Camelot said it often received dozens of unsuccessful claims on large jackpot wins.
Some have made dubious claims in the past by buying a ticket with the ‘correct’ numbers after the draw has been made, and then rubbing out the date and barcode and saying the ticket was damaged.
Miss Hinte’s daughter Natasha Douglas, a 28-year-old supermarket worker, said her mother was ‘unable to breathe’ after finding the faded ticket in the back pocket of her newly laundered jeans. Her twice-married mother had started hunting for the ticket after Camelot said on Thursday that it had been bought in Worcester.
Speaking outside her mother’s home, she said: ‘My mum has a heart condition and all this stress is not doing her any good.
‘She has never said she has won the jackpot, just that she thinks she may have a claim on it. The ticket has been through the wash, the numbers are visible but faded. We are getting people putting notes through the door and contracting her on Facebook asking for cash – begging letters, if you like.
‘Mum said that if the claim is verified she wants to set her family up for life – that’s me and my brother Brandon, plus my four children.’
Miss Douglas said her mother has been told Camelot will wait for 180 days, the deadline for winners to claim the prize, before assessing her claims. She suggested her mother had not checked the ticket after the draw because she had been ‘distracted’ by having her grandchildren staying for a sleepover.
She said it had been bought from Ambleside News, a newsagent about half a mile from her home.
Natu Patel, who runs the newsagent, said the ticket looked genuine and added that Camelot uses special paper to help detect forgeries. He said: ‘She is a pleasant lady. All I could do for her was to carefully bag the ticket up to prevent it suffering any further damage, then I advised her to send it to Camelot.’
A Camelot spokesman said: ‘Whenever we release the area a big win has come from we receive claims on the off-chance from people who genuinely think that the ticket they have lost or thrown away could be the winning one.
‘We have dealt with people who have claimed their ticket has gone through the washing machine, but I can’t remember such a ticket ever being confirmed as a winner.’