A WOMAN from Suffolk has won �1million on the Premium Bonds after being named September's jackpot winner.

Elliot Furniss

A WOMAN from Suffolk has won �1million on the Premium Bonds after being named September's jackpot winner.

She becomes the 236th Premium Bonds millionaire after buying her winning bond in April this year.

The Premium Bonds were launched in November 1956 and the first �1million jackpot prize was given out in 1994.

The long-running prize draw is operated by National Savings and Investments (NS&I) and the winning bonds are picked at random by the ERNIE (electronic random number indicator equipment) machine.

According to figures released by NS&I last week the luckiest region in the UK for Premium Bonds winners is the south west, closely followed by the East Midlands and Wales.

Over the past year people living in the east of England won the ninth highest number of prizes worth �1,000 or more and there are still nearly 44,000 unclaimed prizes in the region, worth a total more than �2million.

Sally Swait, Premium Bonds manager at NS&I, said: “Each month ERNIE randomly generates the winning Premium Bonds numbers from his home in Blackpool, where all eligible bonds - regardless of their age - have an equal chance of winning.

“The last year has seen the South West region receive the greatest luck in having their numbers come up, though all other regions were not without their own significant wins.

“As the numbers are generated randomly each month, we may very well see a change in the rankings of the luckiest regions in the UK next year.”