Bowled over by memory lapse that led to £958,284 double lottery win

Published on 02/08/2007 00:17

WHEN lottery winner Derek Ladner posed for photographs holding a cheque for nearly half a million pounds he thought he had hit the jackpot. But as Camelot officials waited for another winner to make contact they were unaware he was standing right beside them.

Mr Ladner, 59, who admits he has a track record of forgetfulness, had a duplicate winning ticket for the same 2.5m National Lottery draw in his wallet. His total winnings of 958,284 make him the first individual to scoop two jackpots on the same night.

Mr Ladner, a delivery driver from Redruth, Cornwall, who was due to retire on Friday, said he will not return to work.

Last night he described how absentmindedness led him to buy two tickets within four days, netting him a fortune from the 11 July midweek draw.

Mr Ladner bought his first winning ticket - numbers 3, 9, 10, 12, 46, 47 and matched with bonus 22 - on 7 July using his usual numbers taken from his and wife Dawn's birthdays. Mr Ladner's is 3/9/47 and his wife Dawn's is 10/12/46.

He discovered his first ticket had hit the jackpot when checking his usual numbers in the early hours of Friday 13.

He said: "I'd watched a late-night film and realised I had not checked Wednesday's Lottery numbers.

"I flicked on teletext and immediately saw our numbers which I know so well. I sat there for a moment then I went upstairs and shook Dawn awake and told her.

"She told me to stop being stupid and that I got it wrong. It was 2am by now and we had no way of confirming until the morning.''

But that was not the end of Mr Ladner's winning streak. Deciding to carry on buying his usual lottery ticket he checked the following week's winning numbers.

Although his winning line hadn't come up he unearthed his second winning ticket from the previous week's draw.

He said: "I looked in my wallet and there it was. It was an exact duplicate. I thought 'crikey - I've won twice'.

"I realised that I must have bought two tickets in that week - I honestly can't remember doing it. I think I must have gone out of sequence but I really can't remember.

Yesterday Dawn, 60, a retired secretary, described Derek as "constantly forgetful".

"If he told me he'd bought two of the same tickets I'd have called him a wally and said he'd wasted a pound. But I have to admit he's my hero now."

The couple, who have three children, plan to spend their fortune on a holiday to the Canary Islands, a trip to New York, home improvements to their three-bed semi and treating their family and friends.

PAINLESS ROUTE TO WEALTH

A SURVEY has found more British people would prefer to get rich by winning money.

A poll of 1,015 adults aged 16-64 revealed 45 per cent wanted to win money, while 42 per cent would prefer to work to get rich. Only 1 per cent would want to wed into wealth, with women no more likely than men to choose this route.

The majority of those polled did not think a good education is an important asset in the pursuit of wealth.

Just 23 per cent thought schooling was a requisite, although among 16- to 24- year-olds the figure almost doubled to 42 per cent.

Self-confidence was considered by 69 per cent of respondents to be the most important quality of fortune-seekers.

Self-starters and entrepreneurs were the most popular millionaires, with Richard Branson, JK Rowling and Sir Alan Sugar the people respondents would most like to swap places with for a day.