A young couple, Fiona and Daniel Menzies were today involved in bitter recriminations after almost winning the £8.8m jackpot in last Saturday's National Lottery Draw.

The near-jackpot winners were distraught at the disappointment of losing the prospect of the jackpot and vowed to "have their day in court as well as a thirty foot yacht, a new porche and a bungalow."

Speaking to the DAILY SPOT, Menzies, 34, told us "My hopes were raised when we got the first two balls to come out," as he sobbed gently, "and I was thinking about how widescreen a TV I could get. In fact, I pushed speed-dial on my phone and began telling my boss exactly what I thought of him - but now I'm going to have to go crawling back to him and spend another twenty years in that godawful, dreary office."

The couple's hopes were dashed when the number 28 ball came out of the machine. Things then went from bad to worse as none of their other numbers came up, leaving them without even the token £10 prize. Mr Menzies continued, blubbing into a cup, that, "it's just not fair that they can do this to people - get you all excited and then dash your hopes. I don't think my life will ever be the same again."

His wife was equally angry at the unexpected turn of events. "I just can't believe it!" said Mrs Menzies, "only five numbers away from the big one. I don't know how we'll ever get over this - this is the type of thing that could spell the end of our marriage, as well as our Swiss bank account."

The couple have intimated that they will sue Camelot for "malicious disappointment". Zealous human rights lawyer Simon James QC told us "Amnesty International is going to come on board with this one. Camelot have given the impression that winning £8.8 million for no work is a basic human right. We have to send a message before they can punish other innocents in this way - 'it might not be you'."

Later that day, James resigned from the case when he realised that the Menzies had no way of paying his exorbitant fees.

However, there could be hope for the Menzies with the publicity they have received alerting other people intent on bringing down the Lottery for the tragedy of "not winning enormous quantities of free money."

A spokesperson from Camelot has issued a statement to the effect that they have investigated the Menzies' claim and would be prepared to pay out their "winnings" in full, but for the technicality of them not actually having won. The action has now been joined by the family of a dead woman from Skegness who claims that had she not died the week before, she could potentially have bought a ticket with all six winning numbers from the draw held on 17 April 2004.

28th September 2004

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