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19 April 2024

Ruby wedding couple win Dh15m jackpot

The 60-year-old former car salesman was convinced his wife had played a practical joke on him and made her check the numbers herself an hour later. (DAILY MAIL) Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1311961/Ruby-wedding-couple-Philip-Sandra-Sawyer-win-2-6m-lottery.html#ixzz0zZgPEBDE

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By Staff

A Birmingham couple who marked their ruby wedding anniversary [40 years of marriage] last week had another great reason to celebrate - they won £2.6million (Dh14.7m) on the Lotto.

But after realising that he had a winning ticket, Philip Sawyer, from Shard End, simply sipped his cup of tea, read his book and didn’t wake his wife, Sandra, reported The Daily Mail.

The 60-year-old former car salesman was convinced that his wife had played a practical joke on him – and made her check the numbers herself an hour later.

The couple, who had been buying Lotto tickets as part of a family syndicate for three years, will share their winnings four ways with their two daughters Amanda, 38, and Nicola 39.

"We were looking forward to meeting with the girls for the wedding anniversary last weekend and I had bought my four Lucky Dip tickets as usual and thought nothing more of it," he said.

"We'd celebrated the anniversary by going tenpin bowling and playing some games at home like Scrabble - we'd never done anything too flash, it's just nice to all be together.

"After I put my specs on I checked the numbers online and realised I'd got six numbers - it was a very good feeling. I habitually get up at 7am and I made a cup of tea and then checked the lottery results.I went to wake Sandra and she thought it was a joke at first, so I had to explain to her that there was something I had to tell her."

"She thought it was bad news, but when we finally realised what we'd won we had a bit of a cry, because these things just never happen to us. We just do ordinary things to celebrate the anniversary as a family, although we will probably have a nicer holiday this year to the Canary Islands."

Aside from the holiday, the Sawyers plan to move out of their three-bedroom council house and Philip has his eye on a BMW X5.

Nicola, a hotel receptionist, said: "It's going to change things more for mom and dad than for us, because they can enjoy what they've got now. You do worry about your parents not working, but they can do what they want now, which is great because they've spent their lives looking after us."