{"id":110332,"date":"2025-10-09T04:08:09","date_gmt":"2025-10-09T04:08:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/110332\/"},"modified":"2025-10-09T04:08:09","modified_gmt":"2025-10-09T04:08:09","slug":"lovely-dad-won-e10-3m-on-lottery-but-five-years-later-it-killed-him","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/110332\/","title":{"rendered":"Lovely dad won \u20ac10.3m on lottery but five years later it ‘killed him’"},"content":{"rendered":"

Keith Gough won \u20ac10.3m on the National Lottery in 2005, but his life spiralled out of control following his big win and he died just five years later<\/p>\n

Gemma Strong<\/strong> Lifestyle Writer<\/p>\n

16:54, 08 Oct 2025Updated 16:54, 08 Oct 2025<\/p>\n

\".\"Baker Keith Gough and his wife Louise. (Image: PA)<\/p>\n

A massive lottery windfall can utterly change people’s lives – but it’s not always for the good. The heartbreaking story of Keith Gough stands as a harsh warning that striking it lucky can come with serious dangers.<\/p>\n

Keith landed \u20ac10.3m (\u00a39m) on the National Lottery in 2005 – and before that moment he led a perfectly normal existence. A devoted father and spouse to Louise for 25 years, Keith worked as a baker and resided in a humble \u20ac185,000 (\u00a3160,000) semi-detached property in Bridgnorth when fortune smiled upon him.<\/p>\n

The pair purchased their life-changing ticket from a local newsagent in Broseley, with shop proprietor Barbara Homer later remarking it was a “great boost for the area”. “It’s something you can only dream of and you never think it will happen locally.”<\/p>\n

Keith wasted little time before the spending spree began – he splurged on an executive box at Aston Villa’s ground costing \u20ac400,000 (\u00a3350,000), purchased racehorses, and treated himself to a lavish BMW, amongst other expensive acquisitions.<\/p>\n

\".\"Keith and wife Louise. (Image: PA)\".\"Keith said winning the Lottery ruined his life. (Image: ExpressStar)<\/p>\n

He abandoned his employment, but lacking a daily structure, he became “bored”, which led to excessive drinking. He also split from Louise, reports the Mirror<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Speaking in 2009, 12 months before his death at merely 58, Keith admitted: “Without routine in my life I started to spend, spend, spend – in the end I was just bored.<\/p>\n

“Before the win all I would drink was some wine with a meal. I used to be popular but I’ve driven away all my friends. I don’t trust anyone any more.”<\/p>\n

He added: “My life was brilliant. But the lottery has ruined everything. What’s the point of having money when it sends you to bed crying.”<\/p>\n

After his marriage collapsed, Keith moved to a \u20ac1.15m (\u00a31m) rented house in Cheshire, hiring both a driver and gardener. However, his alcohol dependency deteriorated further, ultimately leading to his admission to a rehab centre – where matters became even more dire.<\/p>\n

Keith became the target of a \u20ac800,000 (\u00a3700,000) scam orchestrated by someone he met at Birmingham’s Priory clinic. Fraudster James Prince duped him into investing money in bogus business schemes, later receiving a jail term of three years and four months for the con which occurred between 2006 and 2008.<\/p>\n

Merely five years after his lottery win, Keith, who had blown much of his fortune on gambling, sadly died in 2010 at Telford’s Princess Royal Hospital following a prolonged illness.<\/p>\n

Prior to his premature death, he would warn people going into newsagents “not to buy a lottery ticket” as it had “ruined his life”. He was portrayed as someone who “drank himself to death” in accounts that confirmed a heart attack was triggered by alcohol and stress.<\/p>\n

Les Winwood, a mate and local councillor, said following his death: “He knew he’d made mistakes with the money but was never bitter and was a great man to know. He had a lot of friends.”<\/p>\n

John Homer, husband of newsagent owner Barbara, described Keith as a “lovely man”.<\/p>\n

Nevertheless, he continued: “He was larger than life, a smashing bloke who will be sorely missed. It may sound strange, but winning the money was probably the worst thing that could have happened to him. It is very sad.”<\/p>\n

Many believed that Keith was broke when he died, but a will subsequently disclosed that he had left behind nearly \u20ac920,000 (\u00a3800,000).<\/p>\n

Subscribe to our newsletter for the latest news from the Irish Mirror direct to your inbox: <\/strong>Sign up here.<\/strong><\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Keith Gough won \u20ac10.3m on the National Lottery in 2005, but his life spiralled out of control following…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":110333,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[73],"tags":[79,18,19,17,14729],"class_list":{"0":"post-110332","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-business","8":"tag-business","9":"tag-eire","10":"tag-ie","11":"tag-ireland","12":"tag-lotto"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/110332","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=110332"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/110332\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/110333"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=110332"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=110332"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=110332"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}