Derry Daily
  • News
  • Entertainment
  • Sport
  • Features
  • Courts
  • Business
  • Health
  • Politics
  • Jobs
Monday 8°CTuesday 6°C

Derry Daily Derry Daily Derry Daily

  • News
  • Entertainment
  • Sport
  • Features
  • Courts
  • Business
  • Health
  • Politics
  • Jobs
HealthlottoNewsPolicing

Lottery winner Margaret Loughrey found dead

written by cassoscoop September 2, 2021
ShareTweet

£27m lotto winner Margaret Loughrey

A WOMAN scooped £27m in the Euromillions draw has died suddenly.

Margaret Loughrey, from Strabane, was found dead on Thursday morning.

Her death is not being treated as suspicious.

Her life was transformed by the 2013 lottery win – at the time it was the largest ever jackpot won in the North of Ireland.

Police confirmed officers attended the scene and said a post-mortem examination would take place.

Local councillor Paul Gallagher, a neighbour, said: “People are shocked today.”

A PSNI spokesman said: “Police received a report of the sudden death of a woman at the Ballycolman Lane area of Strabane on Thursday September 2.

“A post-mortem is due to take place but at this stage, the death is not being treated as suspicious.”

The NI Ambulance Service confirmed they attended the scene on Thursday morning.

A NIAS spokesman said: “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, who was aged in her 50s, matched five numbers and two lucky stars in the draw in November 2013.

In total, she scooped £26,863,588.

In an interview at the time, she said that on the day she bought the ticket, she had been to the job market to get an application form for a job with a charity.

“Got up on Wednesday morning, checked the ticket, just had a notion, checked the ticket and that was it – five numbers, two stars, happy days,” she told the BBC in 2013.

“I never panicked. I’m level-headed and I know I’ll think it all through and do the right thing, see to the right people.

“It’s in my name at the minute, it’s £27m, it’s not going to be mine, it’s going to be spread around.

“No point having £27m and being lonely. That can’t make me happy, that can only make me happy that everybody else’s happy and so far everybody is absolutely delighted.”

Despite her new-found wealth, becoming one of Ireland’s richest people overnight, she continued to live in her home town – and was never far from the headlines.

In 2014 she purchased the derelict site of Herdmans Mill in Sion Mills for around £1m. While it was reported that she had ambitious plans to revamp the property, these never came to fruition.

The same year, she became embroiled in a row with Sion Mills Cricket Club, founded by the Herdman family in 1864, after locking them out of their pitch on the 60-acre grounds.

The team was subsequently forced to forfeit two home games for the first time in their 150-year history, ruining hopes that local ownership of the ground would secure its future.

Ms Loughrey later came to an agreement with the cricket club to allow it to use the pitch again.

In 2015 Ms Loughrey was ordered to do 150 hours of community service after being convicted of assaulting a taxi driver.

In 2018 she was ordered to pay £30,000 to a former employee for bullying and firing him on a “vindictive whim”, after losing an employment tribunal.

In an interview in 2019, Ms Loughrey said her lotto win had “sent her to hell and back”, even though she was unemployed and living on benefits when it happened.

“Money has brought me nothing but grief. It has destroyed my life,” she said.

“I have had six years of this. I don’t believe in religion, but if there is a hell, I have been in it.

“It has been that bad.

“I went down to five-and-a-half stone.”

Lottery winner Margaret Loughrey found dead was last modified: September 4th, 2021 by cassoscoop

Tags:
AMBULANCE SERVICEBallycolman LaneINDUSTRIAL TRIBUNALlottery winnerLottery winner Margaret Loughrey found deadPSNIstrabane£29 milllion
ShareTweet
cassoscoop

LEAVE A COMMENT

You may also like

Eastwood to nominate Bloody Sunday families for...

17 hours ago

Two police officers injured in border car...

18 hours ago

Harkin: Council Backs Seagate Trade Union Campaign

21 hours ago

Dangerous driver arrested in Derrry

2 days ago

Suspect arrested over drugs seizure in Derry

3 days ago

Virginia Woolf’s A Room of One’s Own...

3 days ago

SDLP meets with Invest NI Interim Chief...

3 days ago

Police concerned for missing Caolan Maguire

3 days ago

Council lighting up Purple for Holocaust Memorial...

3 days ago

McLaughlin highlights concerns on student access to...

3 days ago

Keep in touch

Facebook Twitter Email

Features

  • Derry cancer survivor Noeleen McMorris reveals importance of awareness

    July 25, 2022
  • Competition! Win tickets to Northern Ireland v England Women’s Euro 2022 match

    June 17, 2022
  • Glenapp Castle: Only a few miles from home but a million miles away

    December 20, 2021
  • DD Travel Feature: The Unsung Shores of Portugal

    November 12, 2021
  • Derry meeting led young Donegal woman to high profile murder

    July 16, 2021

Courts

  • Two men to stand trial for murder of journalist Lyra McKee

    January 23, 2023
  • Derry man jailed for six years over ‘heinous’ sex offences

    January 18, 2023
  • Top Derry officer not moved as punishment, says chief constable

    January 16, 2023
  • Man charged over police car ramming incident in Derry

    January 16, 2023
  • Former Derry police commander suing PSNI over ‘discrimination’

    January 12, 2023

Donegal Daily

  • Killybegs Harbour nets €9M for overhaul

    17 minutes ago
  • Nearly 120 Donegal properties offered for Ukrainian refugees

    14 hours ago
  • Vehicle escaped into Donegal after ramming PSNI car

    17 hours ago

Read More

  • News
  • Sport
  • Courts
  • Jobs
  • Features
  • Business
  • Politics

Information

  • Contact Us
  • About
  • Advertise WIth Us
  • Privacy Policy
  • Disclaimer
  • Terms & Conditions
Derry Daily

© 2023 Derry Daily. All rights reserved.


Back To Top

Posting....