Former lottery winner sentenced to community service

Ryan Magee, a multimillionaire lottery winner who splashed out almost £170,000 on a Ferrari sports car days after he won £6.4 million (€8.9 million) in the EuroMillions lottery seven years ago, was yesterday ordered to complete 200 hours of community service, disqualified from driving for five years and fined £250.

Magee (34) pleaded guilty at the Magistrate’s Court in Derry to driving a Ford Focus car along the city’s Foyle Bridge last year while disqualified and without insurance.

With his winnings Magee, from Monnaboy Road in Eglinton, bought the Ferrari 458 Italia and a house equipped with a champagne bar. The house is currently up for auction.

Magee’s legally-aided barrister Eoghan Devlin said the defendant’s life in recent years could be summed up by saying “every silver lining has a dark cloud. He has found himself not back at square one but several steps behind square one.”