Irish woman won almost £27 million and claimed that money ruined her life

In 2013, Margaret Loughrey from Northern Ireland won £27 million (about 2.9 billion rubles at today's exchange rate) in the EuroMillions lottery. In 2019, she stated that the money had ruined her life, and she died alone in 2021. Mirror writes about how the lottery millionaire's life unfolded.

As of 2013, Loughrey's win was the largest jackpot in Northern Ireland.

Loughrey bought the winning ticket while receiving unemployment benefits. With her winnings, she bought several expensive cars (she didn't know how to drive), a mill, and a pub, gave £1 million each to her four brothers and sister, and helped charitable organizations in her hometown of Strabane. However, she continued to live in a small cottage and vowed to give cash to everyone. She was found dead in the cottage, shortly before Loughrey completed construction of her dream home, which she never got to live in.

A few months after her win, Loughrey was placed in a psychiatric hospital, as she posed a danger to herself and others at that time. In 2015, the winner was sentenced to 150 hours of community service for assaulting a taxi driver - she broke his glasses and navigator. Three years later, she was ordered to pay £30,000 in compensation to a former employee for harassment and arbitrary dismissal.

Loughrey's psychological condition deteriorated, and at one point she weighed only 35 kg. According to Loughrey's brother, Paul, due to mental health problems, the woman was vulnerable to those who tried to take advantage of her winnings for their own interests. After the generous gift to her relatives of £1 million each, Loughrey distanced herself from them as well. For Loughrey, the win proved to be an unbearable burden - it was too much money for her, and the woman simply couldn't handle it, her brother believes.

In her final two weeks, she refused medical help. Doctors wanted to keep Loughrey in the hospital for six months due to her mental illness, but she contacted a lawyer, and she was discharged the next day. Loughrey's brother believes that medical professionals would have definitely helped his sister if she had continued treatment.