£18 million UK Lotto Winner Dennis Benfield Has Died

Five years after winning £18 million, the death of Dennis Benfield from Winterbourne in Bristol, England has been confirmed by his grieving family.

Mr Benfield was 87 when he became the UK’s oldest lottery winner. He and his wife, Shirley (now 87) decided that family would come first so they shared their fantastic winnings with their two daughters.

Despite winning an £18,139,352 UK Lotto prize, the couple continued to live in their three-bedroom semi-detached house that they bought in 1962.

Fantastic

Staff at the local Buxton’s Butchers said that Dennis and Shirley regularly came to their shop. Mr Benfield was described as “fantastic” and their win didn’t change the couple at all.

When they found out about their win, his wife “went berserk” and then “went flying up in the air.”  One of their daughters, Tina, recalled how she didn’t initially believe the news of their UK Lotto win. Then she checked the results and found out her parents really were multi-millionaires.
The couple celebrated with a meal at a local carvery. Mrs Benfield described it as “nothing special.”

Looking after his daughters

Talking about the win, Mr Benfield commented  that “All that has ever mattered to Shirley, and I is that the girls are okay.” Knowing that both Tina and Karen will be financially secure for the rest of their lives was a “wonderful feeling,” the lottery winner said.

His wife had often said to him to stop buying UK Lotto tickets as “they never won anything.”  It’s a good job that he ignored her advice. Valentina from Wokingham, England,  won £100,000 after nearly giving up the Postcode Lottery.

Shirley had been married to her husband for over 60 years. Speaking about her sad loss, she said: “He was so well liked but he's gone now.” His widow recalled some of the final words of the lottery winner. “He said when he was going, 'I've had a good life, I've done a lot and I've seen a lot and I'm ready to go now'.

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