Keith Gough: a £9m Lotto win, heavy drinking and a fraudster

In 2005 Louise Gough, a secretary from Bridgnorth in Shropshire, won £9,001,406 in a Lotto rollover draw with a Lucky Dip ticket. She and her husband Keith had been married for 25 years. They left their semi-detached house in the town for a £500,000 home close by.

Keith gave up his job at a local bakery. He put money into racehorses, bought a top BMW and leased an executive box at Villa Park to follow Aston Villa. He later told newspapers that boredom started his drinking. The marriage broke down, and he went to the Priory clinic in Birmingham for treatment.

During his time in rehab he met James Prince. Prince kept him supplied with drink and got him to sign over money for so-called business ventures. Between August 2006 and July 2008 he took more than £700,000. He was later jailed for three years and four months.

Keith Gough died at the Princess Royal Hospital in Telford in 2010. He was 58.

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Sources

• expressandstar.com (archived) (web.archive.org)
• newsfeed.time.com (archived) (web.archive.org)
• birminghampost.co.uk (birminghampost.co.uk)