The couple who won a £115 million EuroMillions jackpot have revealed the first thing they bought. Frances and Patrick Connolly , from County Armagh in Northern Ireland, won their huge prize on the New Year’s Day draw almost six years ago. At £115 million, it was the fourth biggest UK lottery prize ever claimed at the time.
The pair, who have lived in Hartlepool for 30 years, gave more than £60 million of their winnings to friends and family. But that was not their first spend with the prize. Frances, 58, a former social worker, was in a hotel when she realised she’d run out of pants and had to run out to get some.
She told the Sun: “We left our home with nothing, to keep us safe in case anybody found out about it and came to the house. And they did - within minutes. “When we arrived at a hotel in England on Friday night, ahead of the press conference, I had to phone our Fiona and say, ‘Will you nip down to Marks & Spencer?’.
She got a pack of three pairs for 12 quid.” Her first luxury purchase was buying her father a gold pocket watch. She has also set up two charities, one named after her late mother Kathleen Graham in their native Northern Ireland, and the PFC Trust in Hartlepool.
Their biggest expenditure after their win was a mansion in County Durham with seven acres of land, where Frances drives a Jaguar and her husband has an Alfa Romeo. The couple have three daughters - one is married, one has a little daughter and one is single, according to their mot.