Family discover lottery win at Christmas

A FAMILY who left their winning lottery ticket under their tree for two days without checking it received the ultimate present when they found out they had won on Christmas Day.

Karen Shaw and her family won £1 million in the special EuroMillions Millionaire Raffle on 23 December, but did not check their numbers until two days later.

After opening presents with her husband Anthony, 43, and children Sara, 22, and Karl, 20, at their home in Grange-over-Sands, Cumbria, she did not look at the winning ticket until around 4pm.

Mrs Shaw, 44, who manages a sheltered housing scheme, said she had bought tickets for each of them on a whim.

She said: “We eventually all sat down around 4pm on Christmas Day to open the presents and I remembered the tickets. I had put them in an envelope under the tree.

“Karl was looking at numbers on his phone and suddenly said: ‘You had better check it – I think it’s a winner.’

“After looking at it, we all agreed the right number was there, but none of us could believe it was real.

“It is unbelievable that we had £1 million under our tree all that time.”

Mrs Shaw said they have already earmarked some of their winnings.

She added: “The first thing we need to do is get the kids sorted out.”