County Durham angler nets Lotto whopper

11:08am Friday 23rd May 2008

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A KEEN fisherman was celebrating today after landing the catch of his life - a £2.7m Lotto jackpot win.

Mark Weir, 45, scooped the life-changing prize in Wednesday's Lotto draw, but only found out the following morning when he checked his numbers on Teletext before going to work.

Mark immediately told his wife Julie, 44, of the massive catch - but she did not believe him at first.

The couple, from Darlington, County Durham then had the agonising wait for the National Lottery to confirm the 2,778,125 haul.

Mark, who works as an operator in a local plastic extrusion factory, said: "I saw the numbers come up on the TV and was sure they were the same ones on my ticket.

"I couldn't believe my eyes. I called Julie and she didn't believe me when I said we'd won the jackpot.

"We checked our numbers over and over again before realising that we could be millionaires.

"Waiting for the National Lottery office to open at 9am felt like the longest half hour of our lives."

Julie, who works in a Darlington pharmacy, added: "Mark said he had got the numbers and we'd won the Lottery. I'd said 'You're joking', don't be stupid because we joke about it anyway.

He gave us the ticket and when he looked at us he was actually shaking and shocked. I checked the numbers and I couldn't believe it."

The Lotto win means the couple, who have been married for 15 years, and their two children, Sadie, 13 and 12-year-old Jack, can afford things that they may only have dreamed of.

The news of the massive win is still sinking in and the family have not yet had the chance to even begin thinking about how they will enjoy their new fortune, apart from Julie, who wants to fly to New York for a dream shopping trip.

Speaking at a press conference at Walworth Castle Hotel, near Darlington, the couple said they had no plans yet to give up work.

But Julie is determined to learn to drive having held a provisional licence for about 20 years.

"I am probably going to do a crash course," she said.

Mark is a keen fisherman and often takes his son with him for days out to local rivers and lakes.

His winning lucky dip numbers were 2, 23, 38, 41, 47 and 49.