A
little over 10 years ago Michael Carroll was sitting on a £10million
fortune after scooping the lottery.
But
now the money has gone and he has been forced to take a job in a
biscuit factory for just £204 a week.
His
ignominious journey from rags to riches and back again has included
squandering money on fast cars, huge quantities and drugs and drink
and has even included two spells in prison.
Divorced
from his wife, Sandra, the man dubbed the ‘lotto lout’ has now
had to move north to Scotland to be near his 10-year-old daughter,
Brooke.
And
at one stage he was so broke he was forced to sleep rough in a forest
while looking for work.
But
despite the wasted money, the stints behind bars and the broken
marriage, Carroll, 30, - who styled himself as the King of Chavs -
says he is happier now.
He
said: ‘I moved to Scotland to be closer to Brooke and to get out of
my drinking - friends said the drink and drugs would have killed me
within six months and I’ve been clean of drugs for over two years.
‘I’d
had 10 years of doing what a rock star does and I had to sort myself
out so I decided to head up to Scotland and it’s great – I love
it up here.
‘In
Norfolk I crashed on a mate’s sofa but I’ve got a two-bedroom
council flat just outside Elgin so I’m well sorted.’
Carroll
won £9.7million on the National Lottery in 2002 and immediately set
about spending it.
He
gave £4m to friends and family, bought a mansion in Swaffham,
Norfolk, and splashed out on racing cars.
He
admits wasting millions on cocaine, drink, gambling and prostitutes,
all washed down with two bottles of vodka a day.
He
was handed an ASBO for terrorising his neighbours and he was jailed
for five months in 2004 after failing to comply with a drug treatment
order imposed as part of a sentence for cocaine possession and in
February 2006 he was jailed for nine months for affray.
By
February 2010, he was declared bankrupt and was back on Jobseeker’s
Allowance after admitted blowing the fortune.
How
can a man blow up £10million?
Simple:
No planning. If you walk into Alaba International Electronic Market
without a plan to buy something specific, you will send 1 Million Naira buying rubbish. Everything will look fantastic yet you won't need any
of them. The National Endowment for Financial Education cites
research estimating that 70 percent of people who suddenly receive a
large sum of money will lose it within a few years.
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