A COUPLE who missed out on an £8.5million lottery jackpot for a heart-breaking reason then won £4.8m six years later.
Sue and Lee Mullen were down on their luck at the time and spent their last quid on nappies instead of their usual lottery ticket and so missed out on a huge win.
Six years later though the once penniless couple were rolling in it after winning a very sizeable £4.8m on EuroMillions in 2011.
At the time, carer Sue revealed it was literally a dream come true after she’d had a premonition about having a big win.
She said at the time: “I had dream around Christmas that I won £4.6m on the Lottery. It’s quite spooky – I was only £200,000 out.”
Lee added: “It’s unbelievable. We used to do the lottery every week with the same numbers, family birthdays and such.
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“But when my daughter was born we didn’t have enough money – it was either nappies or the lottery.
“Obviously the priority was my daughter so we spent our last pound on nappies and unfortunately all six numbers that we did every week came in.
“To say we were gutted is an understatement. We thought that was our chance gone, finished.”
They stopped playing and only started again just a few weeks before getting their big win.
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One of their first priorities having won was to get Sue a passport so they could go on holiday with plans for a trip to Mauritius and one to Disneyland for the kids.
Speaking about the moment when she realised they had won, Sue said: “I checked the numbers online on Saturday and couldn’t believe it. I kept checking again and again.
“I refreshed the page with the results on so many times I broke a button on my laptop.
“You really never think it’s going to be you, people like us don’t win. It’s just unbelievable.”
Before their big win, Lee, a former Navy engineer and Sue, from Grimsby, Lincolnshire, were struggling to get buy on just £300 a week in benefits with their three kids and another one from a previous relationship.
They went round car-boot sales for bargains and bought cheap supermarket offers and Lee drove an old Ford Mondeo.
Lee was invalided out of the Navy due to a nerve condition 13 years ago and was living on his veteran’s pension while Sue was unable to work due to serious back problems following a car crash.
Lee explained that things were so bad he wasn’t able to call people back following their win who had phoned to congratulate them because he didn’t have any credit on his mobile.
Even after their win Lee said he intended to keep his T-reg Ford Mondeo.
He said: “It’s falling to bits, but it will be a constant reminder of where I came from.”
The couple were revealed to have big hearts and pledged in 2021 to use some of the funds from a charitable foundation they had set up to help the children of a dad who had been stabbed to death and their mum was at the time on remand for murder.
The girls, who were aged three and nine at the time, were living with their maternal grandmother and an appeal was launched for clothes and money to help them adapt.
Sue was touched by their plight and pledged to give the girls a wardrobe each of clothes.
Since the couple won they have been heavily involved in local charitable work and established The Mullen Foundation which focuses on helping young people and children in North East Lincolnshire.
Out of that, Sue and her daughter Sophie set up the Grimsby and Cleethorpes Baby Bank in 2019 to help new mothers who need a bit of help.
Sophie told the Grimsby Telegraph: “We started the charity when I was pregnant for the first time.
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“Luckily I've got my mum and dad who can help me out with the things that I'll need to bring up a baby.
"It made us all think about people that might not be fortunate enough to be able to have everything that they really need to care for a young baby for whatever reason.”
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