EuroMillions couple announce split eight years after scooping £161million
Pals said Colin, 71, and Christine, 62, had 'drifted apart' during their 38-year marriage
LOTTO winners Colin and Christine Weir have announced they are to divorce — eight years after scooping £161million.
Pals said Colin, 71, and Christine, 62, had “drifted apart” during their 38-year marriage.
The couple, from Largs, Ayrshire — who claimed Britain’s biggest EuroMillions prize — said in a statement: “We intend to divorce amicably.”
It comes as sources claimed the pair have been living apart for nearly a year.
Lotto millionaire pulls up in stretch Hummer to collect £850k winnings – but FORGOT his ticket
Pals said it was an “open secret” their marriage had hit the rocks since landing Britain’s record jackpot in 2011.
Colin and Christine — who have two grown-up kids — confirmed the love split eight months after we revealed they owned separate mansions in Ayrshire.
As the lotto’s break-up curse struck again, one local said: “The suggestion is that they’ve been apart for many, many months. People in their hometown of Largs had been talking about rumours of their split as far back as last summer.
“It’s been a bit of an open secret. People who know them said they seem to have just drifted apart.
“It’s a real shame because they have obviously been through so much together.”
The Weirs today issued a statement to The Scottish Sun telling of their sorrow over their marriage breakdown.
It read: “It is with deep regret that Chris and Colin confirm they have been living apart for some time and intend to divorce amicably. There will be no further comment.”
We told how cracks appeared to show last August when Colin signed over £3million Frognal House in Troon to Christine and he bought a £1.5million waterfront pad nearby.
It came seven years after their mega win catapulted the retired STV cameraman and former psychiatric nurse to 22nd in Scotland’s rich list — meaning they had more cash than Beatle Ringo Starr.
They shunned a pricey celebration trip to go to Brighton to decide how to handle their wealth.
Split could be you
THE Weirs are just the latest couple to discover money can’t buy you love following a life-changing Lotto win.
A string of punters who popped Champagne corks for the cameras after scooping huge jackpots have become losers in love as the fizz went out of their romances.
Here are some others who came to realise that their numbers coming up wasn’t a ticket to domestic bliss...
- Adrian and Gillian Bayford split a year after a £148million win in 2012. Adrian was dumped by his next two squeezes while Scot Gillian wed jailed fraudster Brian Dean.
- Gareth and Catherine Bull scooped £40.6million in a 2012 Euromillions draw. The couple, from Mansfield, Nottinghamshire, broke up five years later.
- Les and Samantha Scadding’s marriage ended in divorce in the wake of a £45.5million jackpot. The duo, of Gwent, Wales, parted four years after their 2009 windfall.
- Jason and Victoria Jones won £2.3million in 2004 a month after tying the knot. But becoming rich “ruined their lives” and the pair, of Devizes, Wiltshire, split in 2016.
- Lout Rangers fan Michael Carroll got hitched to Sandra Aitken a year after he won a £10million fortune in 2002. She left him soon afterwards.
And one of Partick Thistle fan Colin’s first treats was a checked sports jacket like one worn by Scotsport legend Arthur Montford.
They also bought £850,000 Knock House on the outskirts of Largs — a four-bed pad in 23 acres of gardens and woods — before flogging it in 2016 at offers over £795,000.
He said when they got the keys: “We didn’t want to live on a small island with no contact with the people who are important to us.”
The pair pumped £1million into his beloved Jags in 2015 for a ten per cent stake in the club — wiping the Championship side’s debt. Chiefs named a stand after him.
And the generous couple launched the Weir Charitable Trust to help small Scottish-based community groups — with local footie side Largs Thistle landing £800,000.
They also put up £30,000 for cerebral palsy sufferer Skye Swinton, then three, of Cheltenham, to get a pioneering op — describing it as a “privilege” to be able to help.
The lifelong independence backers donated £3.5million to the Yes Scotland campaign ahead of the 2014 referendum. And they handed over £4.5million to the SNP — although the party repaid £1million.
Travel-daft Chris later splashed the cash on a cruise on luxury liner Queen Elizabeth.
But she added: “We’re no different as people. Our friends have been wonderful. And we also believe that with great wealth comes great responsibilities.”
Colin said they went public with their win so people would know they hadn’t turned to crime.
He said: “You can’t hide that sum of money. People would think you were money laundering.”
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