Couple who scooped £115m EuroMillions jackpot to share winnings with family and friends

A couple who won a £115 million New Year’s Day EuroMillions prize have said they will share their price money with 50 friends and family members.

Frances and Patrick Connolly, from County Armagh, Northern Ireland came forward after taking the jackpot of £114,969,775.50, which makes them the fourth biggest UK lottery winners in history.

They won the mega-prize the week after taking home £2.60.

Teacher Frances and Businessman Patrick, who have three daughters and seven grandchildren, said they sat in silence after realising they had won and couldn’t take it in.

They said their first priority was to write a list of friends and family to share their fortune with.

Currently their list stands at 50 people, they said, none of whom have been told about their upcoming good fortune.

Mrs Connolly, 52, said: “We celebrated with a hug and a cup of tea – then wrote a list 50 we would share it with. The joy for us will be when we we tell them all face to face.

“This is a massive sum of money and we want it to have a huge impact on the lives of other people we know and love as well as on our future too.

“This win gives us the chance to really make a difference for our family and friends.

“I always hoped we would win the lottery one day, but when we did, it would be just our luck that lots of others would win on the same day with the same numbers too – never in my wildest dreams did I think we would ever win almost £115 million.”

10 other players took home a million-pound prize in the draw.

The winning numbers were 01, 08, 11, 25, 28 and the winning EuroMillions Lucky Star numbers were 04 and 06.

The UK couple won the prize just weeks after 51-year-old builder Andrew Clark took home a prize of £76million.

Mr Clark said he was taking early retirement after discovering the winning ticket tucked in the visor of his Peugeot Expert van.

He is the twelfth biggest lottery winner in the UK.