Lottery curse strikes again!
Couple who won £2.3million after buying ticket with their last pound coin are to divorce – after wife starts relationship with £260million tycoon
JASON and Victoria Jones had been married for only a month when they scooped £2.3million on the lottery thanks to a ticket bought with the last pound coin in her purse.
But the win – meaning they could buy a luxury home and a £70,000 sports car – did not bring them happiness.
For the couple have become the latest victims of the ‘lottery curse’ and are now getting divorced – after Mrs Jones met a businessman one hundred times richer than her husband.
Mr Jones, 41, says he is devastated after finding out his wife had begun a relationship with the mattress tycoon Mike Clare, who sold bed retailer Dreams for £222million in 2008.
And for her part Mrs Jones, also 41 – who says she is ‘just good friends’ with the entrepreneur – claims their lottery scoop has ‘ruined’ her life.
The win, in 2004, allowed her to quit her job as a credit controller, and she and her husband went on to build an impressive property portfolio in Devizes, Wiltshire, as well as owning a holiday home in Weymouth.
But she maintains the money was not worth it, saying: ‘It’s probably one of the worst things that’s ever happened to me. Without a shadow of a doubt.
‘Even 12 years down the line, I’m still classed as a lottery winner and it’s horrible. It ruins your life. People treat you differently. It’s just not a nice thing.’ Their relationship began to unravel on Boxing Day last year, when Mr Jones says his wife announced she was leaving him. But the pair, who have been married for 12 years, decided to make another go of things and went to Cape Verde in March.
However, while on their ‘make or break’ trip, Mr Jones discovered his wife was in contact with Mr Clare after reading text messages on her phone.
He recalled: ‘We went on holiday to patch things up and that’s when I found out she was texting this bloke Mike. I said, “I still want to make a go of things”, and she said, “No, I’m not in love with you”.’
Mr Jones, who carried on working at a scrapyard after their win, said his wife’s relationship with the tycoon has destroyed his life.
Last night, the father of two, from Bromham, Wiltshire, said he hadn’t worked for months because he was so upset by the break-up. He added: ‘I’ve had to sell the house I live in, the house in Weymouth we used to go to every weekend, and we’ve got all these properties in Devizes and we’ve got to split them all up.’
Mr Clare, 61, whose £260million fortune makes him one of the wealthiest men in the UK, has admitted he is ‘seeing’ Mrs Jones. That’s despite still being married to his wife of 37 years, Carol, 57, from whom he separated in August last year.
The entrepreneur said he has no plans to divorce his wife, adding: ‘I am seeing Victoria Jones. We’re not living together or anything like that, I’m seeing her. I’m quite friendly with my wife, I had a meeting with her yesterday.
‘I haven’t just seen Victoria. Everyone knows I’ve seen different girls and my wife is aware.’