A DAD-to-be had a dream come true less than a week before the scheduled birth of his first son - winning the lottery.

Kenny Ashton dreamt he was going to "win big" on the National Lottery, the night before his lucky £1m-winning scratchcard purchase.

The 33-year-old sales canvasser, from Sunderland, followed up his dream hunch by buying the life-changing scratchcard during his lunch-break the following day.

“I popped into a local supermarket and bought the scratchcard.

“It was simply the card which really took my eye on the stand.

“I immediately scratched it in the supermarket and I thought I had won £5.

“I was absolutely delighted, I couldn’t believe my luck.

“As I continued to scratch, it then emerged I had won £1m!

“I just couldn’t believe it, and, the news still really hasn’t sunk in.”

He said the final number, 17, which completed the £1m win, matched the date of daughter, Amelia’s birthday.

The tee-totaller said he and his almost full-term wife Gillian were the only two members of the family sober the night of his win, last Friday (May 20).

Mr Ashton said the windfall could not have come at a better time for himself and his 26-year-old wife.

She is due to give birth to the couple’s first son, this Thursday (May 26).

As well as three-year-old Amelia, Mr Ashton has three children from a previous relationship.

Therefore, the first purchase made after the big win was a seven-seater Ford Galaxy people carrier, to ferry around his expanding family.

“I bought two cars. The people carrier will be will be fantastic and enable us to all go out together as a family.

“It also means Gillian can have her own car, too.

“We are still planning what we will spend the money on, but I’m sure a new house, our own family home, will also be high up on the shopping list,” added Mr Ashton, who now rents a two-bedroom house for his growing family.

He was back at work on Monday, canvassing the sale of windows and doors, but he said the win has given him, “so many options, choices we could only have ever dreamt of.”

With Gillian unable to attend due to the impending birth, Mr Ashton was left to face the North-East press pack at a sun-struck Ramside Hall Hotel, near Durham, today (Tuesday May 24), still pinching himself that his dream has become reality.