EuroMillions winner whose £27m prize 'brought her nothing but grief' found dead

2 September 2021, 16:03

A woman who won £27 million in the EuroMillions lottery has been found dead at her home in Ireland.

Margaret Loughrey, from Strabane, County Tyrone, was discovered at her home in the Ballycolman Lane area of Strabane.

Police are not treating her death as suspicious, and a post mortem will be carried out.

A Northern Ireland Ambulance Service spokesman told BelfastLive: "We were called to an emergency in the Ballycolman area of Strabane at 10.30am this morning. No patients were taken from the scene."

Ms Loughrey, 56, became Northern Ireland's largest ever lottery winner when she bought a lucky dip ticket on the same day as she was looking for work in 2013. Her record-breaking jackpot won her £26,863,588.20.

At the time of her win, she said that she planned "to make a lot of people happy".

"I don't feel like I've won the lottery, I feel like everyone has won it because this is going to change so many lives."

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But in 2019 she admitted that her win had "sent her to hell and back".

She said: "Money has brought me nothing but grief."

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She had been convicted of assaulting a taxi driver and was sentenced to 150 hours of community service and suffered mental health issues.

With part of her winnings Ms Loughrey bought the Herdman's Mill, a listed building in Sion Mills, as well as a range of other properties including a pub.

But she also alleged that unnamed persons had "stolen millions" from her since she won the jackpot.

She said in 2019: “I regret winning the lottery, of course I do. I was a happy person before. I am a human being and all it has done is destroy my life.”