One of the UK’s biggest lottery winners who won a £22.6million jackpot with his friend was living alone in a modest flat when he died, it has been revealed.
Double-glazing salesman Paul Maddison shared a £22 million jackpot with his friend just months after the National Lottery launched in 1994, reports the Daily Record.
It has now come to light that the millionaire, who purchased a Scottish castle with his winnings, was living in a £165,000 flat in Perthshire when he died at the age of 73.
After his death, a significant portion of his fortune went to the taxman. Paul and his friend Mark Gardiner made headlines in 1995 when they won the £22.6 million jackpot.
After winning, Paul relocated over 500 miles from Hastings in Sussex to Scotland, where he became increasingly reclusive.
He reportedly died on November 28 just a few months after the death of his wife Evelyn, who was 62 years old.
Papers related to his will show Paul – who married four times – left his £3.8million fortune to Thelma Todd. She is the sister of his fourth wife, Evelyn, who died early last year. Todd lives near Paul’s Perthshire flat.
However, a huge inheritance tax bill of £1.4million means the total value of the estate was just over £2.45million.
Legal documents, lodged at Perth Sheriff Court, show Paul owned four properties in the area worth £865,000 and had five bank accounts holding about £3million. He also left assets valued at £4685 by an auctioneer. It seems he hung on to properties as he downsized after once buying 16th-century castle Robgill Tower, near Dumfries, for £650,000. It was sold for a significant profit of £1.25million three years ago.
Fellow Lottery winner, Mark Gardiner, who ran double glazing firm Croft Glass with Mr Maddison, told MailOnline he was “shocked and sad”over the untimely death of his former business partner, which he said was “too soon” adding that he still had a “huge amount to offer”.
He said his old business partner moved to Scotland to retire after the big win “to a different life”.
Mr Gardiner said he and Mr Maddison have not been in touch with each other for around 20 years.
He said: “It’s a shame we lost touch but he’d moved on to a different life and just wanted to draw a line under it.”
