Haverhill: Couple Win £148 Million Pounds

14 August 2012, 11:56 | Updated: 14 August 2012, 12:29

The couple from Haverhill who won £148 million pounds on Friday's Euromillions have gone public this morning.

The winners of the 148 million pound jackpot are Adrian and Gillian Bayford from Haverhill in Suffolk.

They own the Suffolk Music Centre shop in Haverhill have collected their huge cheque. 

The couple, who have got two children are now 516th in the UK rich list.. 

Its the countries second largest lottery win ever, and means they've got more money than Tom Jones and Rod Stewart.

Adrian (41), who co-owns a music shop in Haverhill, and wife Gillian (40), a healthcare assistant in a local hospital, struggled to fully appreciate the moment they realised they had won the jackpot as their young son had just woken-up and was crying. Adrian explains how events unfolded on Friday night: "I had been watching the film 'The Bank Job' on TV while Gillian was out with friends. When she got back we decided to turn over and catch-up on the news. Scrolling along the bottom of the screen was the news that one person had won EuroMillions but Gillian confessed that she hadn't had time to get a ticket. As a joke, I also said neither had I when in fact I had five lines upstairs waiting to be checked. By now both of our children had woken-up so while Gillian was trying to settle them back to sleep, I went to check the numbers on my 'phone. Gradually the numbers seem to match-up with those on my ticket and I just couldn't believe what I was seeing! I rushed back and turned on the main light at which point Gillian went ballistic! The kids really were awake by now. I was trying to tell her that we had won the lottery and she was telling me to keep the noise down!" 

The couple then called family members to share the good news, having given up on getting the children back to bed.

Gillian said "Everyone was very surprised to hear from us so late at night and thought we were joking at first. It took us a while to make them believe us!" "The children sensed our ecstatic mood and took full advantage of it. They finally settled back to sleep in our bed at around 2am. We decided we weren't going to be needing our bed that night anyway!" 

The couple spent the rest of the evening/early morning searching the internet, deciding what they wanted to spend the money on. The couple, who have been married for eight years, are currently reviewing what they do next following their huge windfall. 

The couple have remained remarkably calm as they begin to realise that the life-changing sum is now theirs. Reflecting on the win, Gillian admits: "neither of us can quite comprehend just how much £148 million is. We have always worked and saved up for holidays or things that we need. We have lived within our means and been comfortable but we have been like ships in the night to earn the income we needed. It will be fantastic to spend more time as a family now. This money has come at the right time for us and is going to benefit the whole family. The win is not just for us, it is for us to share and everyone's life is going to be so much more enjoyable and stress-free." 

The couple have two children, a daughter age 6 and a son age 4, who are blissfully unaware that their parents could now afford to buy them their very own toy shop if they so wanted. "We told the children that we had a won a bit of money and our daughter asked whether we now had enough pennies to go to Domino's Pizza for tea. We did, so we went on Saturday evening"

The winning ticket was bought from Premier Stores at 23 Queen Street, Haverhill and the winning EuroMillions numbers on Friday 19 August 2012 were 11, 17, 21, 48, 50 and the Lucky Star numbers were 9 and 10.