EuroMillions €122m jackpot claimed by builder and shop worker

English couple Steve and Lenka Thomson pledge to be ‘sensibly generous’ with windfall

Self-employed builder Steve Thomson (42) and his wife Lenka Thomson (41) from Selsey, West Sussex, England, have won the 9th largest lottery jackpot ever in the UK. Photograph: Andrew Matthews/PA Wire
Self-employed builder Steve Thomson (42) and his wife Lenka Thomson (41) from Selsey, West Sussex, England, have won the 9th largest lottery jackpot ever in the UK. Photograph: Andrew Matthews/PA Wire

A builder who has won a €122 million EuroMillions jackpot said “it’s going to be a good Christmas” but pledged he would not give up his job.

Father-of-three Steve Thomson said he felt like he was having a heart attack when he realised he had the winning numbers on his Lucky Dip ticket to claim the €122,766,852.00 prize.

The 42-year-old and his wife Lenka said the priority would be buying a new house with a bedroom each for their daughter and their two sons, who currently share in a "shoebox" three-bedroom house in Selsey, West Sussex, England.

Mr Thomson said: “Everyone is going to have a good Christmas. Not sure what we are going to do, I am not cooking, Mum is not cooking, Lenka is not cooking.

“Christmas will be good this year, it really will.”

Describing the moment he realised he had won, Mr Thomson said: “I was a shaking, gibbering wreck. I walked round the living room a few times, I went out to the van, I went back in, it was five minutes of madness then I decided to go and tell Lenka.”

Mr Thomson pledged to be “sensibly generous” with his windfall and added: “It’s so much money, I am going to be generous. I live in a small village, I do not want to leave the village, whatever I can do for the village, I will.

“I have to be sensibly generous. I still can’t get my head around it, one (million) would have done but I have got 105, it’s just amazing.”

Mr Thomson said he had barely slept in the four days since finding out he had won and added: “We are going to do a lot of good with this, it’s too much for us, we can do a lot with it.”

Mrs Thomson, a shop worker originally from Slovakia, said: "It's life-changing for the family. It's so emotional."

She said the priority was getting a house with a room for each of the children as well as a holiday.

The 41-year-old, who met Mr Thomson while working at a campsite in 2002, added: “The biggest thing at the moment is the house, it’s our dream come true where they can have their own room and space.”

Describing his children’s reactions, Mr Thomson said: “My eldest’s reaction, he’s a very sensible kid, he said, ‘Dad, can I have my own room?’. I said, ‘No problem, of course you can son’.

“My middle son said, ‘Can I have a Tesla’, and my daughter asked for a pink iPhone and she’s going to get that.”

Mr Thomson said he decided to go public so he did not have to hide and added: “I am not going to flutter it away, at the end of the day I am still Steve, I do not want to change, we are just financially better off and so will a number of other people.”

He added that he would complete all of his outstanding jobs fitting windows and conservatories.

He said: “Once I am over the shock I will need to keep doing something. I am not the type just to sit still.

“My business partner knows that if he needs a hand I’ll be there.” – PA

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