Shawn scratches his way to £1MMillion win

Shawn, who is a finance graduate from Jordanstown, said, “As I was leaving work around 5:30pm on Saturday evening, I bought a couple of £5 Scratchcards.

“Normally I’d scratch them in the car but on this occasion, I took them home with me as I had to get ready to go to a socially distanced garden party with a few friends that night. I actually forgot about the Scratchcards in my jacket pocket so when I got home, I had a shower and got ready to go out.

“Then I remembered the cards, took them out of my jacket and started scratching around 7pm. All of a sudden, I could see that my numbers matched and the card was telling me that I had won the top prize of £1MMillion!”

Initially Shawn didn’t believe it. He said, “At first I thought it must be a fake card and I checked every inch of it to make sure it was real. Then I double checked all the numbers and they looked good too, so I gave the card to my mum and dad to have a look.

“They also checked it again and again and agreed that it looked like I’d won – but I still didn’t believe it. Then I phoned the number for Camelot on the back of the card at about 7:30pm and ran through the details with a lovely lady on the end of the phone before she said the magic words… ‘Congratulations, you’ve won a million pounds.’

“I really couldn’t believe what I was hearing. I was still trying to process what was happening while my mum was already making plans for a new asphalt driveway at the front of the house, which they’ve been working on.

“Then she phoned my brother Paul in England and I texted my brother Gavin in Australia – both of whom naturally thought we were joking.”

Shawn has already got plans to help his family thanks to his good fortune. He said, “The first thing I’ll do is fix up the front of my mum’s house and get her a new driveway and a garden shed. I’ll give a little something to my mum, dad and three brothers, Gavin, Paul and Christopher.”

As well as helping family, Shawn’s got some things on his wishlist already. “I plan on buying myself a Range Rover and, depending on how travel restrictions go over the next while, I’d like to book myself a nice holiday somewhere. Before the pandemic broke out, my friends and I were looking at a possible trip across the USA but while that’s on the back-burner for now, it’s definitely in our future plans.”

Shawn’s going to carry on working at the store he manages, saying that he has a great relationship with the owners.

He’s had a lot of support from locals too. He said, “It’s been really nice as customers have been coming into the shop and saying that they’re delighted for me and that it couldn’t have happened to a nicer family.”

8th July 2020