As the old lotto saying goes: You have to be there to win it.
Which Kirk Stevens thought he was in March last year when his live-in girlfriend won the jackpot in the National Lottery’s Set For Life draw — £10,000 a month for 30 years, worth in total £3.6million.
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Having let Laura Hoyle live with him rent-free, Kirk had come up with the idea that, instead, his lover paid £25 a week into the lotto. The arrangement worked out well when they hit gold.
The pair made headlines as they posed with a lottery cheque written out in both their names — and said they were setting up a business together as GHOST HUNTERS.
Kirk, 39 years old, is now reeling from Laura’s abandonment. Laura, 40 has moved into a beautiful new home and cut him off of the lotto loot.
He said: “Laura had told me we’d live the life of Riley if we won. Now she’s gone. She pulled the plug and took everything. She even wants our two dogs.”
Engineer Kirk met Laura through a pal in 2018 and she soon moved to his £240,000 three-bedroom detached home in Hucknall, Notts.
He says: “She asked me how much rent I wanted but as far as I was concerned, she was my girlfriend. I didn’t expect her to pay rent, I didn’t ask her for a penny.
ENGAGEMENT RING
“Instead, she told me she’d buy us lottery tickets. She spent around £25 a week and told me that if we won, we’d live it up.
“Our arrangement was never any more formal but I didn’t think I needed anything more. We were a couple, living together in my home. Besides, I never expected to win.”
Laura, who had just been fired from her position as a senior manager in a logistics business, sold her Wolverhampton home to Kirk.
He said: “Laura was out of work but had money from the sale of her house. She could have paid me rent but I didn’t want it. I was happy with the arrangement as it was.”
Laura played the lottery with her new account even though she was offered a job with Hermes, a delivery company.
Then, her coworkers videotaped her as she was told by her phone that she had won the life-changing prize. It was tax-free.
Kirk says: “Both our names were on the cheque we posed with for pictures and every press release from (National Lottery operator) Camelot talked about both of us winning the prize, together.
“Laura immediately quit her job and we bought a Porsche Cayenne. It was a very exciting time.
“I suppose you could say we were semi-sharing the money then. Laura was paying me £1,000 a month from the winnings and she encouraged me to pursue my master’s degree in mechanical engineering. I would never have done it but Laura said she’d pay off my student loan.
“We had plans for the future, were going to buy properties together and build an empire.”
As the pair dreamed of that future, Kirk’s mind turned to marriage.
He says: “We’d both been married before and when we had first got together Laura told me she wasn’t bothered about tying the knot again.
“She said she’d change her name by deed poll and wear a ring but wasn’t interested in marriage.
“Things changed, though, and after two or three years together, I was getting to the point where I wanted to marry her. Laura was the one I loved and I wanted to spend my entire life with.
We had plans for the future. We were going to purchase properties together and create an empire.
“I even talked to her parents and asked them for her hand in marriage. They were thrilled and overjoyed, and I was even more excited.
“I talked to Laura’s friends, bought an engagement ring and was going to propose — but then we hit a bad patch and I thought, ‘I can’t ask her now’. So I put it off. I even sent it back.
“After a while, things were back on track between us so I bought another ring. I was about to propose but, just then, things went south.
“I felt Laura was reluctant to commit and that the money was part of the problem.”
Kirk was confused. He believed Laura was trying to get out of his relationship. The lottery win had become an unresolved topic.
He says: “People used to ask me why I never quit my job. I loved having a sense or purpose. It gave me something to look forward to each day.
“But it was more than that. The truth was, I never felt secure enough with Laura to give up my job. I could feel her pulling away from me — and things went from bad to worse.”
NIGHT-VISION CAMERA
The couple began going on ghost-hunting nights together. After they won some money, they turned their hobby into a job.
Kirk says: “Ghost-hunting was Laura’s idea. I didn’t know what to expect when she booked us a ghost hunt after seeing it advertised on Facebook. But, I was hooked.
“We started out with basic cameras and posted YouTube videos, and after we won the money we upgraded our kit.
“The National Lottery gave us a night-vision camera and Laura decided she wanted to turn this into a career.
“I’d be at work all week while she would be at home editing videos. Then we’d go out ghost-hunting all weekend together.
Laura was reluctant to sign and the money was part the problem, I felt.
“Whenever I wasn’t at work we’d be off ghost-hunting so it isn’t true that I didn’t want to do things with Laura as a couple.”
But in June this year, after Kirk and Laura had attended a friend’s wedding in Bristol, Laura called time on their relationship.
Kirk says: “She just told me she didn’t want to be with me any more. Our relationship had gone downhill but I wasn’t expecting the split.
“I wanted to try to fix it but Laura wasn’t interested. It was like the money gave her confidence to throw it all away. She became snobbish and superior.”
After their win, the pair had put a deposit on a £500,000 new-build home near Kirk’s place, in Linby.
Laura bought the house, but it was too late. “them”Kirk was not able to join her when she was ready.
He says: “She took lots of ‘our’ stuff with her, too, so I’ve had to replace things. She’s even been demanding over our two dogs.
“At first, I didn’t know if it was a permanent split, so I didn’t mention the money. When it became obvious that we weren’t going to be able to work things out, she asked me: ‘What about our lottery win?’She said to me: ‘It’s not ours, it’s mine.’
“She made it very clear she wasn’t going to be splitting the money with me. Up until we split, Laura had been paying me £1k a month but that stopped when she moved out.
“She claimed it was ‘rent’ and that she wouldn’t pay it now she’d left.”
Kirk claims he owes something to her for the windfall she won while they lived rent-free.
But it is a grey area because they were not wed and, although both names were on the publicity cheque, the ticket was bought in Laura’s name.
Last night Camelot confirmed that, despite the names on the fake cheque used for publicity, all lottery wins are paid to an individual, even in a syndicate, and the winning account used was Laura’s.
Laura had no comment. Kirk disagrees. “I just want ten per cent. If she continues to pay me £1k a month, I’ll happily walk away. She won’t notice it.”
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