Couple celebrate £7.6m lottery win

EAST Anglian great grandparents Eric and Sue Tarry today vowed to carry on running their village car repair garage - despite scooping the entire £7.6m rollover jackpot from Saturday's Lotto draw.

The couple - who live in the Fakenham area and between them have five children, nine grandchildren and a great grandchild - were unveiled today as the winners of the fortune and revealed how a “twist of forgetfulness” was at the heart of their success.

Mr Tarry, 78, who runs the service station at Sculthorpe, near Fakenham, forgot his usual lottery numbers and had to plump for the “Lucky Dip.”

And the numbers he got - 10, 34, 35, 39, 43 and 47 - all came up and they were the only winners in the main Lotto draw.

It was when Mr Tarry woke up with cramp in his leg on Saturday night that he realise they had become instant multi-millionaires.

In a further quirky twist, his wife Sue, 56, remembered their normal numbers - and that won an extra £10!

Mr and Mrs Tarry - who have been married for nearly 30 years - were clearly over-awed at the attention on them as they were introduced to the nation's media today and said they were still coming to terms with their win.

Reporters, photographers and camera crews from a wide variety of media outlets wanted to talk to them and hear their story and get their pictures.

They said they had not been able to eat or sleep since realising they had scooped the £7,649,917.

Mr Tarry said: “I do not know how it is going to change my life yet.”

He said he would not give up the family business.

“It's our way of life. I have got lots and lots of lovely customers. They are not only customers but friends as well. It's just something we do every day. It's not easy to give up.”

Mrs Tarry organises the accounts and wages.

“We employ three people and it's like a family,” said Mrs Tarry.

They want to finally finish their kitchen renovation in their five-bedroom house, which they started several years ago.

“It is incomplete and it has been for several years. We've been going to have it done professionally for years and will do that now.”

Mr Tarry - who has had both knee and hip replacements and suffers from a heart condition - also plans to replace his old Mitsubishi Shogun with a new one.

They said their family would be “taken care of” and may also invest in a motor home.

Their last holiday was a short break in Aldeburgh 24 years ago.

Mrs Tarry said: “I have never flown. We have often talked about buying a motor home. We are not holiday people.”

Mr Tarry said the size of their win was still sinking in.

“We are just getting used to it. We are trying to come to terms with it.”

The have played the Lottery since it was launched in 1994 and usually buy their ticket from Budgens, in Wells Road, Fakenham.

Mr Tarry said he learned of his win at about 10pm on Saturday after getting out of bed with “cramp.”

“I got a cramp in my leg. I got up and started walking around and went to my laptop computer and logged on to the home page and checked my saved numbers. One of my regular numbers won £10. I got my other number and it said 'congratulations you are a winner'.”

Mr Tarry added: “I went into see Sue and said 'Can you wake up?' She said 'What's wrong?' I said 'I think I have won the lottery.' We went back and checked all the numbers were there.

“We haven't slept since - can't eat, can't sleep.”