Waiter who dreamt of lottery win before scooping £1million will share jackpot with boss who paid for tickets

A waiter who dreamt he’d won the lottery shortly before he scooped £1million will share his prize with his boss who tried to claim the whole prize, a court ruled yesterday.

Fatih Ozcan was convinced he should buy a ticket for the Euromillions draw after dreaming he was holding large bundles of cash.

During his dream his boss Hayati Kucukkoylu was standing in front of him - and Fatih told him about his premonition the next day at work.

The pair agreed they should enter the lotto and Kucukkoylu gave him money from the till of his Turkish restaurant to buy several tickets.

One of their lines then scooped £1million - but Kucukkoylu then said he should take the entire jackpot because it was money from his till.

The row ended up with police being called and a court case which involved text messages between the pair and CCTV being studied.

Eventually a judge ruled it should be split 50/50 between the two, but Kucukkoylu disagreed and appealed the decision - saying he wanted all the cash.

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But Lord Justice Pitchford at London's Civil Appeals Court has now upheld the original decision - ruling each man should get £500,000 each.

He said Mr Kucukkoylu's bid to challenge the 50/50 split had 'no real prospect of success'.

Mr Ozcan, a 'strong believer in dreams', persuaded his boss to donate money from the restaurant till towards the ticket - as he felt that if the two joined forces they would win.

But when their Euromillions ticket came up trumps in 2012, Mr Kucukkoylu claimed the lot for himself, saying he had paid the £9 ticket price and chosen the numbers.

But the waiter claimed he had paid half the stake and contributed to the number choice - triggering a bitter legal battle.

Ruling on the case last year, Judge Mark Gosnell said Mr Ozcan 'had a dream’ on the night of January 29, 2012'.

'He dreamt that he was holding a large bundle of cash and, standing in front of him, was his boss.

'Mr Ozcan is a strong believer in the power of dreams and interpreted this to mean that he and Mr Kucukkoylu would win the lottery,' he said.

The next day, Mr Ozcan 'pestered' his boss for several hours before he relented and passed him coins from the restaurant's till to towards the ticket

It was the inspired waiter who went to a nearby supermarket and bought the ticket which yielded the riches.

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But Kucukkoylu, 47, who runs the Kapadokya Turkish restaurant in York, said he paid the entire stake and had chosen the winning numbers, claiming the winnings should be his.

Mr Ozcan was adamant that it was his dream that prompted the win, that he had paid half the £9 stake and that some of the number choices were his.

He later complained to police, alleging Mr Kucukkoylu had 'stolen his winning Lottery ticket from his jacket pocket'.

He told Lottery operators Camelot the same story - and Mr Kucukkoylu was arrested and held for nine hours before he was eventually released without charge.

Mr Ozcan later admitted making the bogus allegation because he wanted to stop his boss from 'getting his hands' on the cash and 'sending it back to Turkey'.

Last year Judge Gosnell found that the men each played an equal part in the win and that each had paid half the stake.

Lord Justice Pitchford ruled that the money should be split 50/50 between the pair.

During the original hearing, Judge Gosnell concluded: 'I find that the effect of these conversations was that Mr Kucukkoylu and Mr Ozcan entered into a contract to jointly play the lottery on an equal basis.

'There should be a declaration that the prize money from this winning lottery ticket should be shared equally between Mr Kucukkoylu and Mr Ozcan.'