A lottery winner who scooped £10,000 a month for the next 30 years has been dumped by his partner and claims she has cut him off from the jackpot because the winning ticket was bought in her name.
Laura Hoyle, 40, and Kirk Stevens, 39, from Nottingham, won the jackpot in the National Lottery‘s Set For Life draw – a total of £3.6million split over 30 years.
Mr Stevens had been letting Miss Hoyle live with him for free as he ‘didn’t expect her to pay rent’ with the agreement that she would be the one to pay £25 a week for lottery tickets.
The deal paid off for the couple, but Mr Stevens claimed Miss Hoyle has now broken up with him, snubbed him from the winnings and ‘even wants our two dogs’.
The couple had said they planned to set up a ghost hunting business and were photographed holding their cheque – written out to both of them.
Mr Stevens argued he should be given a share of the winnings after the split, but although the novelty cheque handed to the couple had both of their names on it, the ticket was bought with Ms Hoyle’s account.
Kirk Stevens, 39, and Laura Hoyle, 40, (pictured) bought their winning ticket online via the National Lottery app but Mr Stevens said Miss Hoyle has dumped him and taken ‘everything’
The couple said they planned to set up a ghost hunting business with their cash prize
Mr Stevens had been letting Miss Hoyle live with him for free as he ‘didn’t expect her to pay rent’ so the pair decided she would put £25 a week into the lotto
Camelot has said that all Lotto wins are paid to an individual, even in a syndicate, and told the Sun that the winning account was hers.
However a year and a half later Miss Hoyle dumped Mr Stevens, got a new house, and he says she took the jackpot, The Sun reported.
Mr Stevens, an engineer, said his ex had told him the pair would ‘live the life of Riley’ if they won but ‘now she’s gone’.
He added: ‘She pulled the plug and took everything. She even wants our two dogs.’
She had no comment when she was contacted by the Sun last night.
Earlier this year Miss Hoyle said the pair were planning to go to Disneyland Paris in the summer, as well as ‘lots of other exciting places’, but Mr Stevens said she has since dumped him.
Laura was seen saying she was ‘going to be sick’ in a clip from when the couple won the draw on March 1, 2021.
Laura Hoyle (seen in a clip of the phone call), 40, and 38-year-old Kirk Stevens matched all five main numbers plus the Life Ball to win the top prize in the Set For Life draw on March 1 last year
Mr Stevens said he met Miss Hoyle through a friend in 2018 and she then moved into his three-bedroom home in Hucknall, Nottinghamshire.
Referencing letting Miss Hoyle live rent-free in his £240,000 home he said she had asked how much rent to pay him but ‘as far as I was concerned she was my girlfriend.’
He added: ‘I didn’t expect her to pay rent, I didn’t ask her for a penny.’
The couple are pictured here with their dogs Teddy and Barney but Mr Stevens said Miss Hoyle wants to take the beloved pets too
Mr Stevens said he met Miss Hoyle through a friend in 2018 and she then moved into his three-bedroom home in Hucknall, Nottinghamshire
The engineer went on to say that the couple had instead made the arrangement that Miss Hoyle would buy the lottery tickets.
He said the deal was never more formal than that but he didn’t think he needed anything more as ‘we were a couple, living together in my home’.
Prior to the arrangement Miss Hoyle had been let go from her job at a logistics firm, so sold her Wolverhampton home and moved in with Mr Stevens.
