AFTER winning £1.8million on the National Lottery, Roger and Lara Griffiths thought they were set for life.
The couple – who share two daughters – won the jackpot in 2005, having played for years, and couldn’t wait to splash the cash.
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Roger and Lara Griffiths won the £1.8million Lottery jackpot in 2005Credit: SWNS
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The couple celebrated with Champagne and a curryCredit: check copyright
As well as buying a £670,000 pad in North Yorkshire, they enjoyed lavish holidays, bought luxury cars, hundreds of designer handbags and sent their kids to private school.
Roger even gave up his job as a £38,000-a-year IT manager to become a house-husband, and set about reviving his childhood dream of becoming a rock star.
Meanwhile arts teacher Lara bought a beauty salon for £200,000 which she ran to provide steady income, along with the couple putting money into the stock market.
But they hit hard times when bad investments and business ventures – coupled with bad luck – saw their winning fortune torpedoed.
The huge lotto win eventually culminated in the end of their once-happy marriage after multiple heated rows – and an incriminating email.
By 2013, Roger reportedly had just £7 in the bank and was back living with his parents – and branded their windfall a “poisoned chalice”.
He said back in 2013: “I had it all, but it’s gone. I feel ashamed to say this, but I haven’t been smart enough to make it work.
“I’m trying to keep the wolf from my door but I’m running out of ideas. If it wasn’t for my family helping me, I’d be in trouble.”
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Lara found an incriminating email… and their marriage broke downCredit: laraTthepaintedlady/facebook
Lara told MailOnline: “Let me tell you, winning the lottery is not all it’s cracked up to be.
“Most people end up worse off in some way, and no one has any sympathy because you won the money instead of earning it.
“I’m not even back to square one, I’m much worse off than before the win.”
Before the win, Lara said they hardly ever argued and Roger used to spend £2 every week, placing his bet on the internet.
The night they won, the couple celebrated with a takeaway curry and a bottle of Camelot Champagne.
Lara said: “Roger always used to say he’d win the lottery one day but when it actually happened it was a shock.
“Of course it was exciting, it’s what everyone dreams of, isn’t it? But looking back, that’s when all our worries started.
“We both come from good families, and are well-educated, but we weren’t wealthy and we had no idea how to manage such a large amount of money.”
Splurged cash
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Roger and Lara disagreed over how to spend their cash
After Roger and Lara scooped the jackpot, at one point the interest alone earned them £340 a day.
Lara said the money “caused a lot of contention” from the start.
“Roger’s idea was that we would both give up our jobs and live off the money, spending very little of it, but I didn’t want to give that up,” she said.
“My plan was to enjoy some of it and carefully invest the rest. I thought we should put some aside just to spend on stuff.”
But the mum admitted they may have splurged too much of the money after five-star holidays to Dubai, New York, Majorca and Monaco.
Roger said they “must have spent £15,000 in 10 days”.
They featured on a Lottery winners special episode of Location, Location, Location, and eventually bought a barn conversion in Wetherby, spending £18K on doing it up and £25K on furniture.
Let me tell you, winning the lottery is not all it’s cracked up to be
Lara Griffiths
Roger then bought a £28,000 Porsche convertible while Lara ferried their daughters Ruby and Kitty in a Lexus 4×4 to their £10,000-a-year private school.
Lara also bought jewellery, clothes, furniture and enough designer bags to fill a shop while Roger splashed out on a collection of £500 suits, as well as freshly whitened teeth and a Botoxed face.
Lara conceded the spending was stressful, saying: “Actually, it didn’t feel so fabulous to be able to pay for whatever we wanted.
“We felt scared. You are constantly thinking ‘Is this wrong? Will we lose it? Is this the right decision to make? How long will it last?’
“We were so desperate not to mess it up, and it’s very difficult when you have advisers coming to you in their shiny suits and flash cars. Who do you trust?”
She added: “We were told not to put all our eggs in one basket, so we decided to invest in property and business. We thought we were doing everything right.”
After giving up his job to pursue his music dream, Roger splashed out £4,000 on new guitars and £25,000 on making a record with a band that sold just 600 copies.
Financial crisis
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Roger later branded their win a ‘poisoned chalice’Credit: SWNS
Lara said: “I was working all hours, up to 9 or 10pm at night trying to make a success of the spa, but it was haemorrhaging money.
“Roger was brilliant with the children, but I resented him being at home and kept on at him to get a job, especially as I was so busy at work I didn’t even have time for a lunch break.
“I admit I wasn’t the easiest person to live with, but Roger could be selfish, too.”
Neither of them had any idea a recession was coming that would tank their finances.
In 2007 the financial crisis halved the value of their investments in a week, and the salon began losing £4,000 a month.
Things got worse on New Year’s Eve 2010, when a fire gutted their under-insured property in Wetherby, near Leeds, destroying £120,000 of luxury goods, and they had to pay for temporary accommodation for seven months.
Two months after moving back in, Lara uncovered incriminating emails on her husband’s computer.
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In 2007 the financial crisis halved the value of their investments in a week, and Lara’s salon began losing £4,000 a month
She said: “It was the worst moment of my life. In the archive I found a conversation between Roger and a male friend.
“My husband was asking for a woman’s telephone number and his friend seemed to be encouraging him. I went to pieces and phoned Roger for an explanation.”
When she confronted him, Lara claimed Roger just said “S***” and didn’t offer an apology or anything else.
She continued: “Within 10 minutes he was back home. He walked straight past me into his office, and started packing his bags. He was shouting at me, telling me I was an idiot and pathetic, then he just left.
“I was hysterical. I tried calling him, but his phone was dead, and when I tried to contact him on Facebook he had blocked me.
“I may have been horrible to him for a week, but I would have forgiven him anything because I loved him. I don’t believe in divorce, family is everything to me.”
An hour after leaving, Roger sent Lara text saying he was ashamed of himself and then disappeared before returning a week later and telling her how he was “unhappy”.
But according to Lara, Roger then said: “I want to come home because we have even bigger problems, problems you don’t know about. We’re broke and I can’t afford to live anywhere else.”
Lara refused his request and a week later they met again to talk things through before Roger left for good in 2011 and moved into a cottage.
No regrets
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Lara is now a tattoo and semi-permanent make-up artistCredit: laraTthepaintedlady/facebook
Despite everything, Lara – who is now a tattoo and semi-permanent makeup artist – said she doesn’t regret the lottery win but just wishes the outcome could have been different.
Since then the couple have barely talked, with their eldest daughter Ruby allegedly so hurt by the break-up she refuses to see her dad.
Roger told the Mail he was “ashamed” of the emails Lara found but denied being unfaithful, and declined to talk further about his private life.
He said he accepted responsibility for the couple’s financial situation, but explained that Lara had never shown much interest in meetings with their advisers and accountants – and left most of it to him.
Roger, who became a recruitment consultant and still plays in his band, FMB, said: “Lara is a brilliant mother and was a wonderful partner to me. The emails did not end our marriage, but were a catalyst.
“Our marriage had been going wrong for some time and the strain of our financial situation did not help.
“It’s true to say the lottery win affected our relationship for the worse.
“Before, we were a team, treading parallel paths, and after, we started pulling in completely different directions.
“Ours is a really a cautionary tale. We’re both well-educated people who worked hard to make our businesses a success. If this can happen to us, it can happen to anyone.”
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Roger became a recruitment consultant and still plays in his bandCredit: Linkedin
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