INTERNATIONAL - A couple who publicly celebrated winning £100,000 on the lottery were targeted by armed robbers at their home just ten days later.
Lee Davies, 27, who scooped the prize on a £1 scratch card, and his fiancee Carryann Copestick spoke to the Press at their local football team’s stadium. They were photographed spraying champagne and posing with the cheque on September 29. But on Monday night they were woken up at their home in Wolverhampton by three masked raiders demanding gold and money.
The thugs, who the couple say had knives and iron bars, escaped with £11,000 of jewellery and three iPhones, most of which had been bought with the winnings. Mr Davies, a shipping clerk, said: ‘We were fast asleep, and people came in waking us up saying: “Where’s the gold, where’s the money?”
‘We saw people in masks with knives, bars. We feared for our lives. I don’t wish I hadn’t won the money, but obviously it’s brought a lot of trouble with it. I do wish we hadn’t gone public because it made us a target.’ Miss Copestick, 26, a full-time mother, rents the house where they were targeted. The couple, who have been together for six years and have three children, hoped to use their winnings to buy it.
Mr Davies, who bought the scratch card on impulse at a newsagent when he stopped at an ATM, said he has no idea who was behind the raid, but claimed the thugs knew they had children. He said although the Press call at Wolverhampton Wanderers’ Molineux Stadium was ‘amazing’, he had wanted to keep their win private, but was told that because some locals knew about it from the shop, it would become public knowledge anyway. He added: ‘We were just so lucky they didn’t wake the children. Something like this would have traumatised them.’
Among the gold jewellery stolen was a large chain worth £4,000, a £900 bracelet, eight rings and a necklace. The iPhones were estimated to be worth £1,400. The couple, who are preparing to marry, are offering a £2,000 reward for the return of their belongings.
Camelot said: ‘Camelot takes its duty of care to winners very seriously and will continue to offer support to Lee Davies.’