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Liverpool Echo
Liverpool Echo
National
Ryan Paton

Biggest ever lottery winners in Merseyside and what they did next

What would you do if you ever won the lottery?

It's the classic question everyone will have been asked to ponder at some point or another.

Merseyside has actually been identified as one the luckiest places in the UK to play the lottery after a 2016 study showed 14 people with a Liverpool postcode had been turned into millionaires over the previous two years.

READ MORE: Meet the man whose job is to make people millionaires in Merseyside

We thought we'd pay tribute to 10 jackpot wins from Merseyside for who this fantasy became a reality:

Ben Woods

Ben Woods, from Rock Ferry, scooped £2,485,736, with a lucky dip ticket his mum bought him in 2004 aged just 23.

After after a few years spent travelling abroad, the former Merseyrail worker settled down "to a normal life" just three miles up the road from his family home.

The Magnificent Seven

In 2009, a seven-person syndicate scooped £45,570,835.50.

The winners, dubbed the Magnificent Seven, all worked for Hewlett Packard carrying out IT work at a BT office in Liverpool.

The syndicate included John Walsh, 57, James Bennett, 28, Sean Connor, 32, Alex Parry, 19, Emma Cartwright, 23, Ceri Scullion, 35 and Donna Rhodes, 39, who pocketed £6.5 million each..

Mr A

A Mystery Lotto winner, known only as Mr A from Merseyside, became a millionaire without ever touching a ticket. The lucky winner was one of two jackpot winners in the draw and banked a staggering £1,942,659.

Tony Dodd

Tony Dodd from Wirral won the £2.4m Lotto jackpot when he was aged 67 year's old. He celebrated by getting a knee replacement operation.

George and Beryl Keates

George and Beryl Keates from Southport has scooped a National Lottery jackpot of more than £3.5m on their 10th attempt at the lucky draw back in 2012.

Kirkby workers

A group of ten A4e workers in Kirkby scooped £28m between them in a EuroMillions draw in July 2013.

Bosses then had to frantically try and find replacements afterwards as they all quit their jobs immediately.

Brian McTigue

Brian McTigue from West Derby was left stunned when he collected more than £2.8m in the National Lottery draw in 2013.

David Ashcroft

Mossley Hill carpenter David Ashcroft is the region’s biggest winner, having scooped a £12.3m jackpot back in 1997.

Freddy Powell

Freddy Powell, from Crosby, was the first winner from Merseyside when he scooped £1.35m in April 1995.

Mark English

In April 1996, Mark English from West Derby won £4.2m. He gave up his jobs as a part-time steward at Liverpool FC and factory worker at Stoves in Prescot.

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