Luton Couple Win Lottery Online

A couple from Luton are celebrating after winning a huge £10,784,075 Lotto rollover jackpot from Wednesday 8 April's Lotto draw.

Martyn White (53) and wife Sandra (48) were finishing off their packing for a week-long Easter break to Italy when they found out about their National Lottery win online. It took them a while to realise just how much they had won and nearly two weeks before they could hold the cheque for themselves.

As Martyn said "It was Easter Saturday and we were leaving for our flight at lunchtime so I switched on my computer first thing to double check our flights and to see whether there were any delays. Whilst looking I saw there was an email from the National Lottery saying I was a winner but I assumed we had won a tenner again. I thought lovely - that will go in the holiday kitty. I wasn't going to check but intrigue got the better of me and I logged onto my account. It took me ages to spot the amount and even then I thought the email was wrong - £10.7m was the jackpot prize but how much have I won? Next I checked the winning numbers and recognised them all it began to dawn on me that it wasn't a mistake and that we really had won!"

Still suspicious it was a prank of some sort, Martyn decided to check the lottery results on various other news and information websites before he called Camelot to see if it really was genuine. Later in the morning he watched the Wednesday night National Lottery Draw Show on Catch-up TV and it finally began to sink in. However as they were due to leave for the airport in just a couple of hours time the money would have to wait.

Martyn explains, "Some people must think we were mad to still go on holiday but we had booked it a while back and were really looking forward to going away with our friends. In a way it was great to have time to think about what the money means for us and our family. We would wake up each morning and think it was just a dream and then we would start giggling again as I remembered it was real. If it had been a ticket then we would have probably rushed to the bank and put it into a safety deposit box but as it was online it felt safe and could wait until we came back."

On holiday the couple tried to carry on as normal and held back from spending the money until they got back to the UK. Sandra said "I did look at a few fancy shops including Dolce & Gabbana but decided not to go in until we had the win confirmed. I think we must have gone through every emotion during those seven days on holiday. It finally hit me when I was visiting Pompeii and Mount Vesuvius, when I sat down to catch my breath. I was looking at this beautiful view across the bay of Naples and it suddenly felt real."

Martyn (who is a sales manager for a vehicle electronics company), said he hopes to take early retirement whilst Sandra plans to swap her role at her local school for that of interior designer once they have found their dream house. "We are hoping to buy something nearby as we have lived here all our life and have lots of friends locally. I have always wanted a swimming pool and can't wait to start planning the interior decoration of our new pad when we find it."

Other treats they have planned include new cars as well as dream weddings for two of their children who plan to wed this summer. "We were about to take out a bank loan to cover the mounting costs for the kids' weddings this summer but now we can do them in style with no money worries. It is going to benefit the whole family and be a great summer" said Martyn.

Their winning numbers were made up of the ages of the family (Martyn, Sandra, their three children and Martyn's mother) and as a result changed every two months as each member of the family celebrated a new birthday. Martyn and Sandra have played the lucky set of numbers since Lottery first launched in 1994. They transferred to playing online via the National Lottery website so that they never missed a draw and don't have to worry about checking the tickets. Martyn said, "I have won lots of tenners and twice I have matched four numbers but I never imagined anything like this!" The winning Lotto numbers on 8 April 2009 were 8, 10, 21, 23, 25 and 48.